#but also! the thing about how what he did tore our family apart:

[crystallllines]

my god churro is the lone woman performing amid a bunch of men saturday night

what a brave girl! ugh i’m so proud of her and also fuckin terrified that i’ll hate the set. it’s supposed to be edgy humor, so i’ll just brace myself to expect what i hear from josh on the regular, i guess. but churro also said she was doing a couple jokes about our grandfather (the bad one), and frankly THAT makes me worried about how i’ll respond to someone making jokes about… about what? what he did? the trial? my god, charity was just a little baby when all of that happened.

i want tomorrow night to be about her, though, not about how i feel about someone making light of an ordeal that tore our family apart and hurt so many people i love— including churro— you know? so, like, while i was definitely encouraged to only ever look upon that issue with the utmost seriousness (you have to be serious if you’re testifying in a criminal trial, uh, helloooo), i will do my best to have a sense of humor about it

[theereina]

Let Me Talk

Pairing: Terry Richmond x Plus Size Fem Black!OC

Wordcount: +2.4K

Warnings: MDNI (18+) mature content, such as cursing, no smut, heavily dialogue-centered, anxiety mentioned, childhood trauma mentioned, angst, heartbreak, fluff, a smidge of dirty talk

A/N¹: This is a single one-shot with no planned sequels unless requested.🤨

A/N²: I'm open to critiques. I am a little 🤏🏽 sensitive about my writing. Please, don't be too harsh.🥺 Feel free to bring my attention to any typos. Divider by @theereina. Also, this work is not to be plagiarized or reposted (on any site other than here on Tumblr). I do NOT give consent for any form of republishing or rewriting.

Masterlist: 🔥🔥🔥

It had been four months since I had seen Terry. There was little to no contact besides short phone conversations and quick texts. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss him. It was the little things that made it hard to forget him. The way he always smelled of sandalwood and musk. The way he held my hand when I was anxious. The way his smile lit up a room. The way every shirt he owned molded to his body like a glove. Ugh, I gotta stop.

I wanted nothing more than for him to return home to me, but pride got in the way. Not only for him but for me, too. We were equally as stubborn and stuck in our ways, unyielding to the love we shared. Being right somehow mattered more to each of us— more than a good morning kiss, a massage after a long day, the vows of our marriage.

Letting pride hinder our judgment, I told Terry to leave and not come back. Truthfully, I didn't want him to, I was just angry and tired of fighting. So, when he left without a fight, it reminded me too much of my abandonment trauma. Watching him walk out that door tore me apart. I was once again a five-year-old girl watching her father leave for the last time, never to return. The power Terry held over me in that moment was only a fraction of the hurt I felt. It was like the world around me shattered. With him, Terry took both light and love while I fell further into darkness more and more each day.

In other words, Terry and I couldn't comprehend that we could both be right even with two different perspectives. The basis of the problem as trifling as it seemed was an ugly nuanced one. Unfortunately, Terry was raised by his parents while I had to survive mine. This understanding is what caused the biggest fight we had ever had. No matter how much I explained it, Terry couldn't understand why I did things the way I did.

For context, I have had no contact with my family since I left home after college. I didn't talk to my sisters, brother, stepfather, and definitely not my mother. Terry's nurturing and supportive upbringing made him less receptive to the dysfunction that came with mine. He couldn't fathom not speaking to his family, let alone his mother, for years. So, when he brought up the idea of me reconnecting with them, it was a shock. The first time he asked I reminded him that I had my reasons— he only knew some. The second time I admired his persistence but still declined the offer. However, after the fifth or sixth time, I was fed up. I wanted him to understand how much these people collectively hurt and drained me. After days of explaining and retelling the story, he responded with annoyance— calling me childish and bitter.

Damn right, I was! I had taken care of every single one of them for years. I had put my health on the back burner to ensure they were good. I had stretched myself thin to the point of almost being hospitalized for a mental breakdown. No one other than my mom came, but we all know her true reason for coming— to save face. Considering she never believed or accepted my mental health issues, she just complained the whole time I was in the waiting room. This is the type of stuff I dealt with from them. This lack of care, kindness, appreciation, and love is why I left as soon as I was financially stable enough.

Even after talking about this for days, the only thing I was left with was a heavy heart and teary eyes. The more Terry pressed; the more distant I became. I didn't want it to get this far or this bad, but he wouldn't let it go. His mind was already made up. To him, family is family, and we should forgive them no matter what. Unfortunately, that wasn't and would never be my reality.

Present Day

“Caramel cookie butter iced coffee and a regular hot coffee for… Fallon!” yelled the barista from behind the counter. “That's me,” I said, facing the small woman. “Here you go. Enjoy,” she said, smiling and pushing the drinks toward me. I checked the sticker on the regular coffee to see if they remembered the two sugars. I picked up both drinks and searched for an empty table in the back of the coffee shop. I knew this conversation would result in both of us or at least me ugly crying.

I slid into a booth in the far back corner of the shop, facing the door. I knew that if it became too overwhelming for me, seeing the door would provide a certain level of relief— an exit or escape if needed. Immediately upon sitting, I began to remember some of the memories I and Terry shared here. This quickly became our favorite spot. Plus, it was right down the street from our shared home. Terry would come here almost every Monday and Friday morning to pick up my current favorite drink order. He called it a treat to start the week and a reward for finishing.

This is also the place where we had our first conversation about marriage. I can almost remember Terry's face when I told him I never thought about being married— until I met him. I didn't believe anyone could love me, especially a man of Terry's caliber. I felt like damaged goods that would never be good enough for him or anyone else. So, I never planned for that milestone. Terry's presence in my life felt like a reassuring message from God that I was loved and deserved it— properly.

Oh, God! Not me already crying, and he hasn't even made it. I quickly used one of the napkins to dab my eyes. Taking deep breaths and relaxing my shoulders, I tried my hardest not to get lost in my thoughts. I knew that once I let myself be sucked into that abysmal cycle I would be trapped there before even a word was spoken between us.

I leaned back into the booth, watching the door. Terry wasn't late; I was just extremely early. I needed to prepare myself as much as possible before seeing him.

10 minutes later

ding ding

“Good morning! Welcome to the Coffee Cabin,” yelled the woman from behind the counter. “Hey, good morning,” said a familiar voice. I knew exactly who this was yet my heart refused to settle down. I didn't know how my mind and body would react to seeing him face-to-face for the first time in months. My hands were sweating profusely. How the fuck was I going to make it through this?

“Pumpkin?” Terry said, sitting across from me. “Uh,… Hi,” I said struggling to breathe. “Hey, mama. Look at me. Fallon!” Terry said, leaning over the table and lifting my chin. I looked up to see Terry glaring back at me. Those striking green eyes expressed his concern. His eyes spoke before his mouth could. There was no need to voice his worry.

“Terry, please,” I said, holding his hand. “Don't do that. Just tell me what's wrong,” he said pulling my hand to his lips. “This! What the hell are we doing right now? It's like we aren't even married. I don't…” I rambled. “Pumpkin,” Terry said, trying to stop me. “We aren't living…” I continued. “Pumpkin,” Terry said, gripping my hand. “I don't know what to do with myself half the time. It's…,” I said. “Pumpkin, enough! Stop!” he cried out. I could sense his frustration with my rambling. I hadn't stopped talking since he sat down. “Terry, I'm just trying…,” I said trying to continue. “No. Stop it! This isn't how this was supposed to go. Let…me…talk,” he grunted.

I pulled my hand away and placed it back into my lap. I dropped my head in embarrassment. I hadn't even made it one minute before making a fool of myself. “Listen, I love you. I know you are feeling anxious right now. We both have a lot to say, and that's okay. But before we can continue, I need you to relax, love. Okay?” he said, caressing my cheek. I shook my head, looking back up at him. “I'm sorry. This is hard,” I said. “I know, mama. I know,” he said, wiping away a single fallen tear.

“C’mere,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up from my seat. “Terry, I…!” I said, trying to pull away from him. “Nah, come to me, Pumpkin,” he said while wrapping his arms around me. It was as if life itself had started again. Terry's embrace broke me in the gentlest way possible. His body swallowed mine, providing me with the comfort I had been craving for months. I missed this man and everything about him.

“I'm sorry. I…,” I said, sniffling into Terry's chest. “Shhh, stop apologizing. I don't need you to apologize. I need you to let me— let me love you, let me take care of you, let me come home,” he said, tilting my chin up to meet his eyes. He leaned down and kissed me on the lips. I had never felt so much relief in my life. A single kiss had just washed away all the pain and guilt I had carried for these last four months.

“I don't know what to say. I had all these… these… speeches planned in my head. Just for me to remember nothing,” I said leaning further into Terry. “That's fine. Let me talk, you just listen. Turn your brain off for a minute and relax. Aight?” he said, releasing me from his hold. His hands held onto the sides of my face. He was awaiting an answer, but words were escaping me. Too many thoughts were fighting to claim power over my tongue.

“Turn it off, lil’ mama. Okay? Sit back down for me,” he said, gesturing towards my seat. His hand waved back towards the booth as I slid back in. Terry sat back down in front of me. He reached for my hands and pulled them towards him. It's insane how something as simple as Terry holding my hands made me feel lighter and calmer. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “There you go. Thank you, Pumpkin,” he said while stroking the back of my hands.

“Listen to me, okay? I should have never pressed you so hard about what was going on. Your boundaries were clear. I can see that now and wish I could have seen that then. These last four months have been absolute hell in the most silent way possible. I let my perspective overshadow yours when this was your experience— your reality, not mine. I won't sit here and lie to you like I'll ever understand how you feel. I won't. However, as your husband, it was my job to console you…. and… and care for you. I failed you at that moment. I don't deserve your immediate forgiveness, and I will do whatever you ask to receive it. I… uh… I left you to deal with all those emotions alone when it was my fault that you had to relive it in the first place. I was forcing you to see things my way because I thought I knew what was best for you based on my… my experience. You didn't deserve that. You deserved so much more than I gave you at that moment, and for that, I'm sorry. Sorry for how I handled the situation entirely. From this day forward, I promise to be a better man to you— a better husband. You deserve the world, mama. I love you more than life itself. Please, forgive me. Please,” he pleaded.

By this point, I was sobbing. I didn't need to say a word. I jumped up from my seat and ran around to Terry's side. There was nothing I wanted more than him— all of him. I sat in his lap and held his face in my hands. “Of course, I forgive you. I love you, too. I don't know what to say. Fuck… just… just kiss me already, papa,” I said, looking into Terry's eyes. They were the softest they had been in a while.

Terry’s urge was just as strong as mine as he pulled me in to kiss him on the lips. But, I needed more; so I used my tongue to part his lips. Terry's mouth opened, and I could feel his energy shift. The desire in him ignited like a flame. The yearning was mutually shared. His hands roamed wildly as teeth met tongue. Neither one of us cared that we were in public. Sharing breath and body, we became one again. With passion burning in our bellies, Terry pulled away first. I looked at him to be met with a pained gaze filled with a desperate hunger for something else.

“Pumpkin, I think we should leave. Um… the thoughts that are… uhh, shit… Woman the things I want to do to you have no business being viewed by the public eye,” he said, catching his breath. His chest rose and fell rapidly with every word. “Yeah?” I asked, stroking his ear and swallowing hard. My breathing was equally just as harsh.

Terry's gaze lingered over my body. “Yeah, we need to leave. Now!” he said, guiding me with his hands on my hips. “Did you drive or walk?” he asked, making me face him. “Walked,” I answered softly. “Okay. I drove. Unfortunately for you, you gettin’ in a car with me, and I can't promise to keep my hands to myself. Honestly, we probably not makin’ it home,” he said while leaning down to whisper in my ear. “Oh, fuck… Don't say stuff like that,” I said, clenching my thighs together. “You wanted honesty, mama. Hell, we should put that extended cab to good use for once,” Terry said, his lip curling up into the most sinful smirk. “You're nasty,” I said, hitting him in the chest. “Yea, and? You love it!” he said, pulling me into another kiss.

Part 2 => 🗣

Taglist: @avoidthings @brattyfics @cocooned-butterfly @5headsupremacist @ariiijestertheklown

@creartivefairy @miyuhpapayuh @armandosbabymama @megamindsecretlair @nahimjustfeelingit-writes

@nayaxwrites @jimmybutlrr @lovey-3 @curvyambitions @gg-trini

@deja-r @hoouno06 @insidefeelingofanadult @slutsareteacherstoo @skyesthebomb

@blowmymbackout @blackerthings @mymindisneverhere @iburias @androgynousgaz

@becauseimswagman1 @geee3bayyybeee3 @gwenda-fav @poektiou624 @keyaho

@pocketsizedpanther @sageispunk @charismablu @4ftwonder @ineedmyaccountback

@rebelrel0987 @4pfsukuna @writingsbytee @nayaesworld @babybratzmaraj

@pinkpantheris @honeytoffee @talkswithdesi @blyffe @helloncrocs

@amyhennessyhouse @beenathembo @thiccc-c @qtmkenedy03 @persethegawd

[sterredem]

Obsessed

Oscar Piastri x singer!reader

Face claim Olivia Rodrigo

Warning stalking (online), not proofread, Speling mistakes

Summary y/n is obsessed with her boyfriend’s ex.

A/n We are just gonna say that Lilly’s account is public… so that everything makes sense.

Also this may be more of a Lilly x reader the an Oscar one… it’s also a bit short… and this is probably the only fic you’ll get in a bit

Instagram

120.124 likes

F1.Gossip BREAKING NEWS: Our favourite young couple, Oscar Piastri and Lilly Zneimer has reportedly broken up! After their 4 years and a bit realation the couple found out that they where better of as friends then being together. Many hard are broken after hearing this news, but they claim that they are still friends. We wish them both the best with their careers, and we with them the best in future relationships.

View all 2.234 comments

User1 NOOOOOOOOO😭😭😭😭

User2 I don’t believe in love anymore😭😭

User3 WHYYY?!?!💔

User4 Hearts ♥️ been. Broken 💔 Too. Many. Times ⏳😭😭

User5 MY FAVROUTE COUPLE😭😭😢

User6 Why am I so upset at a couple that I don’t even know😭😭

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Twitter

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Time skip

Twitter

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Real life

Y/n knew she was crazy. It was actually sociopathic what she was doing. She was stalking her boyfriend’s ex girlfriend.

And not stalking stalking. She was not following her in real life… just on social media.

She was just going through the girls instagram photos, looking up everything about her, wanting to know everything that there is about the girl.

Beside that she was also looking at old Twitter threads, shortly after the break up was leaking by a gossip account F1 Twitter went crazy, they loved the couple. They made comments upon comments expressing their hard break at the news, they also still make post dedicated to Lilly and her achievements. And it tore the singer apart.

And she has to admit; lily is perfect.

And that was the worst ever.

Lilly was sweet, good with kids, talented, smart, funny, gorgeous and genuine. And maybe even far better than herself.

She now knew almost everything about her: her star sign, her blood type, her family, hot what school she goes to and on what class she was in. She knows that she slept on her side of Oscar’s bed (which didn’t make her feel good). And other things that Oscar had told her, with them knowing each other and being friends while they were dating and him finding comfort in her after the break up.

And she knows it was crazy; they broke up. They don’t even speak anymore! But still, every time he says her name, Y/n can’t help but think that he mistakes herself for his ex.

So she has to admit, she is jealous.

She always knew she had some kind of a problem, but this?

She thought about Lilly 24/7. If you knew how much she thought about the girl, you’d think she was in love.

And if you’d know how much she looked at her pictures, you’d think that they were best friends.

And that was the moment she realised: she was Obsessed with Lilly Zneimer, her boyfriend’s ex.

And not obsessed in a normal way, she wasn’t just jealous of the amazing girl, no.

She had a had a whole white board dedicated to her: all the things she liked, the things she did, the clothes she white (thanks to the fan accounts), the people she hangs out with, her hobby’s, her go to food places, everything.

She was really going crazy.

Not that Oscar knew, of course he didn’t. If he did he would break up with her for her sociopathic behaviour.

After realising that, she knew there were few things she could do.

So she walked through the house to her music room, she sat down, and begin writing.

She needed to stop with the obsession, and the only way for that was music.

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Instagram

Liked by LillyZneimer and 2.964.624 others

Yourusername SUPRISE! My new song ‘obsessed’ is out now! The music video will be out midnight est!!

Thank you @DanielNigro With working with me on this!

View all 264.275 comments

OscarPiastri Excuse me??

OscarPiastri Why didn’t I know?

Yourusername …suprise…?

SabrinaCarpenter AMAZING (but also…?)

GracieAbrams Another banger!!

Laufey The best song ever!

Conangray Girl, check your msg

User7 HUH??

User8 This ganre swich is INSANE! but I love the rock!

User9 Dare I say that this is about… Lilly

User10 Y/n in her stalking era

User11 Nit Lilly liking this😭😂

User12 The aesthetic😍

User13 Oscar didn’t know??

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Instagram

212.543 likes

Celeberty.Gossip After recent speculations that Y/n Y/l/n’ new song ‘obsessed’ is about Lilli Zneimer (Oscar Piastri’s ex girlfriend) The pair was seen hanging out and shopping together. Is the song about someone else? Is there a sudden new friendship? What is going on?

View all 3.765 comments

User1 OMG?!

User2 the line about them being best friends?

User3 Or about them being in love??

User4 I don’t know what’s going on but I love it!

User5 They look very good (together)

User6 I ship…

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No part 2… open ending!!

[kyleoreillylover]

Monster- Part II

Summary: Roman thought you would get over what he did to you, and stand by his side like you always did, but he was sorely mistaken. He learned he needed to face his demons in the form of you when you threatened to wreck everything the two of you have built, and he realizes you're just as much of a monster as he is, and doesn't understand why you are hurting him, why you want to take away the empire he built. But he wouldn't be Roman if he didn't use your demons against you, in the form of Jey

Trigger Warnings: Manipulation, cursing, wrestling related violence, allusions to smut but no actual smut written, Roman Reigns being toxic but you’re just as toxic, etc.

word count: 19K

tagged: @southerngirl41 @venusesworld @jeysbae @reci1996 @tbonesteakwithasideofmashngrav @hope4more @selena-tyler-564 @saintaquarius @whatdoeseverybodywant @raya-hunter01 @empressdede @judgementdaysunshine

a/n: not my best work, but I decided to try and get rid of my writers block, and a lot of people liked this one-shot, so I decided to turn it into a series!! hope ya'll enjoy!

dividers by @firefly-graphics

“You know you can’t keep avoiding him, right?”

 “Yes, I can.”

You sighed at feeling Jey’s stare burning a whole through you, waiting for you to look up at him. You avoided his gaze, focusing on putting on your outfit for tonight’s Smackdown. You were wearing Jey's merch with one of his jackets to cover up the bruises that were blooming on your skin.

Jey approached you slowly, his footsteps echoing in the quiet locker room. His hand reached out, gently lifting your chin so that your eyes met. "Baby, you can't keep running forever."  he said softly, his voice tinged with concern. "He's not going to leave you alone until you confront him."

You swallowed hard, knowing Jey was right but not wanting to admit it.

Ever since your loss in the  HIAC match last week against Roman, you had been avoiding your former best friend. He thought you would run to him with open arms and get over the loss, but instead you were playing mind games by avoiding him, knowing it would hurt him, and tried  to distance yourself from the pain and the memories that haunted you. 

"I can't face him, Jey," you finally confessed, your voice barely above a whisper. "I thought I could handle it, but every time I see him, all I can think about is that match. How I let him embarrass me in front of you, how I let you down..."

"Hey, you didn't let me down." Jey's hand moved from your chin to gently cup your cheek, his touch warm and reassuring. "You had all the odds stacked against you, and you still scared the hell out of Roman. You fought with everything you had, and that's all I could ever ask for." 

Tears welled up in your eyes as you looked at Jey, feeling a mix of gratitude and guilt. "But I lost, Jey. I lost for us, for our family, for everything we stand for. I can't face him because I let him hurt you, I let him hurt the man I ove." You choked on the last words, the weight of your emotions heavy in the air.

Jey's expression softened, his thumb wiping away a stray tear from your cheek.  He felt the same embarrassment, knowing he couldn't stop Roman from humiliating you in the match. humiliating you in the match. But his love for you overshadowed any feelings of resentment towards Roman.

Having to watch you take blow after blow from the outside of the cell, watching the two people he loved the most beat each other to hell, seeing you push yourself to your limits despite the odds stacked against you, it tore him apart inside. But he also knew that holding onto that pain wouldn't solve anything.

"Babe," Jey whispered, his voice filled with tenderness, "Roman didn't hurt me. He didn't hurt us. He just... he pushed us. The only thing he hurt was your pride, but you didn't let him break you. You stood tall in that ring, faced him head-on, and pushed him to his limits, and you think I could ever be ashamed of that?" He gently wiped away another  tear, his eyes filled with love and admiration as he looked down at you, making you feel as though you were the only person in the world.

He pressed a kiss to your forehead, his lips warm against your skin. He wanted you to feel the love from him and know that he loves you no matter what. "Please...baby, I know this is hard for you, and I understand," Jey murmured, his voice barely audible over the hum of your racing heartbeat. "But he's family, and-"

"I dont care if he's family!" you interrupted, your voice rising with frustration and hurt. "Family is supposed to have your back, not tear you down in front of the whole world! He's not family to me anymore, Jey. He's just... just someone I used to know."

Jey sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly as he processed your words. He knew deep down that you were right, that Roman's actions had fractured the bond that once held you all together. But he couldn't shake the feeling of loyalty, the sense of duty he felt towards his cousin, even in the midst of the chaos he had caused.

"I hear you, baby," Jey said finally, his voice tinged with sadness. "But for me, please try to at least talk to him. For the sake of our family, for the sake of us. Yell at him, scream at him, do whatever you need to do to get closure, but don't let this eat you up inside. We'll get through this together, okay?"

What you didnt know was that Roman was forcing Jey to choose sides, and Jey felt torn between his loyalty to his cousin and his love for you. So to stop the escalating tension between you and Roman, Jey felt compelled to intervene, hoping to find a resolution that would appease both parties without causing further rifts in their family.

You took a deep breath, steel your resolve, knowing that Jey was right. You couldn't keep avoiding Roman forever, and as much as you resented him for what he had done, you also knew that letting this fester would only cause more pain in the long run. With a nod, you squeezed Jey's hand, silently promising to face Roman head-on, for the sake of your relationship and your sanity.

"Okay, Jey," you whispered, your voice wavering slightly but filled with determination. "I'll talk to him. But only because you asked me to." Oh, talk to him you would. You never said you would forgive him or forget what he did, but you knew it was time to confront the demons that had been haunting you since that fateful match.

Jey's eyes softened with relief, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Thank you, baby," he murmured, pulling you into a tight embrace. He was surprised that you agreed to talk to Roman, knowing you hated him right now with every fiber of your being. But he also knew that you were doing it for him, for your relationship, and for your own peace of mind.

He held you close, his arms wrapped protectively around you, silently promising to be there for you every step of the way.  You felt anger course through your veins at the mere thought of facing Roman again, and you knew it would go in a way Jey wouldn't like. But you didn't care. You were done running, done hiding. It was time to confront the man who had shattered your pride and nearly torn apart everything you held dear.

Roman was angry as he made his way to the ring, Paul Heyman flanking him with a concerned look etched on his face. He thought you would understand why he did what he did during the match.

He thought you would see it as tough love, as a way to push you to your limits and make you stronger. He thought you out of all people would know that he did it for your own good.

But instead, he was met with silence, with avoidance, with betrayal. He couldn't understand why you were shutting him out, why you were pushing him away when all he wanted was to help you become the best version of yourself.

He thought you'd get over the loss , of him using Jey against you, but you were proving him wrong with every passing day. As he stepped into the ring, the crowd erupted into a chorus of boos, but Roman barely registered their disapproval. His thoughts were consumed by you, by the way you had been avoiding him, by the hurt and anger simmering just beneath the surface.

The moment he picked up a microphone, the arena fell into a tense silence, every pair of eyes fixated on him, waiting for his next move. "Y/N," he began, his voice low and controlled, "I know you're out there somewhere, hiding in the shadows like a wounded animal. But you can't hide from me forever."

He paused, letting his words sink in, letting the weight of his presence hang heavy in the air. "I did what I did because I care about you, because I wanted to push you to your limits and make you stronger. But instead of seeing it for what it was, you've chosen to see me as the enemy, as the one who tore you down instead of building you up."

He took a breath, his chest rising and falling with the weight of his emotions. "But I'm not your enemy, Y/N. I'm your family. I'm your best friend. And no matter how much you try to push me away, I'll always be here for you. You can't ignore your  feelings forever, Y/N. Sooner or later, you're going to have to face them, and when you do, I'll be waiting. Because no matter what happens, no matter how much you hate me right now, I'll always love you."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, unsure of how to react to Roman's unexpected vulnerability. But Roman paid them no mind, his focus solely on you, on getting through to you, on making you understand his perspective. He lowered the microphone, his gaze scanning the crowd as if searching for a sign, a clue as to your whereabouts.

"So come out, Y/N."  Roman continued, his voice softening slightly. "Or are you too scared to face me?" Roman's voice echoed through the arena, cutting through the tension like a knife. He could feel the eyes of the audience on him, the weight of their anticipation heavy in the air.

But his eyes were focused on the ramp, knowing your music would begin playing now,  knowing you couldn't resist protecting your ego.

Sure enough, the familiar strains of your entrance music filled the arena, eliciting cheers from the crowd. You paid them no mind as you stepped out of the back, your expression guarded but determined.

Jey was standing beside you, his hand resting reassuringly on your shoulder as you made your way to the ring. He was your rock, your anchor, the one who gave you the strength to face Roman head-on, even when every fiber of your being screamed at you to run. 

Roman smirked to himself at the sight. He knew threatening the person you love most was a low blow, but he didn't care. He was tired of playing nice, tired of pretending everything was okay when it clearly wasn't. He wanted answers, and he wasn't going to stop until he got them.

You climbed into the ring,  your gaze locked with Roman's, neither of you backing down from the intense stare. You could feel the tension crackling between you, the weight of unresolved emotions hanging heavy in the air. But you refused to let Roman see how much he had affected you, how deeply his actions had cut you.

Jey lightly tugged on your arm, silently urging you to speak up, to get this over with. You took a deep breath, steeling yourself for what was to come.

"Roman," you began, your voice steady despite the tumult of emotions swirling inside you, "You are standing there, all smug and self-righteous, as if I wasn't this close to becoming champion and taking everything you worked so hard to get. I was 3 seconds away from winning, so don't act like you are some untouchable god."

Roman cackled at your words, the sound echoing through the arena like a gunshot. "Oh, Y/N," he chuckled, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Don't act so surprised. You knew what you were getting into when you stepped into that ring with me. You knew the stakes, you knew the consequences. And yet, you still couldn't handle the pressure." 

He took a step closer to you, his gaze unwavering. "You talk about being three seconds away from victory, but you forget that those three seconds were the most crucial of your career. Those three seconds were the difference between success and failure, between glory and defeat. And that's the difference between you and me. I don't crack under pressure, Y/N. I thrive on it. I thrive on the challenge, on the competition, on pushing myself to be better, to be stronger, to be the best.

But you? You crumbled. You let the pressure get to you, and you lost. And now you're standing here, trying to shift the blame onto me, trying to make excuses for your failure. But the truth is, Y/N, you have no one to blame but yourself."

Your jaw clenched at Roman's words, the anger bubbling up inside you threatening to spill over. How dare he stand there and lecture you about failure when he was the one who orchestrated your downfall? How dare he act like he was above reproach, like he was untouchable, like  was not at fault when he was the one who manipulated the situation to his advantage? 

Jey stood next to you, sharing a worried look with Paul and cautiously watching the tense exchange between you and Roman unfold. He could see the fire burning in your eyes, the rage simmering just beneath the surface, and he knew that if he didn't intervene soon, things would escalate beyond repair.

But before he could step in, you took a step forward, your fists clenched at your sides as you met Roman's gaze head-on. 

"You want to talk about pressure, Roman?" you spat, your voice dripping with venom. "You want to talk about what it means to thrive on competition? Fine. Let's talk about pressure. I used our friendship in that match to gain an advantage, and like the idiot you are, you took the bait. It only took you some tears to distract you, to make you lose focus, to show the world that you're not as untouchable as you think you are." 

You were now the one cackling at Roman's angry expression, relishing in the satisfaction of finally getting the upper hand. "'Oh Roman, I give up! Please, don't hurt me anymore!'

You mocked your words during the match, your voice dripping with sarcasm. "You really thought you could manipulate me into submission, didn't you? You thought you could use our history against me, use Jey against me, and I would just roll over and take it like a good little puppy. Well, guess what, Roman? I'm not your pawn. I'm not your puppet. And I sure as hell am not your friend."

Roman's expression darkened at your words, his fists clenched at his sides as he struggled to maintain his composure. He hadn't expected you to turn the tables on him, to use his own tactics against him. But as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't deny the truth in your words. He had let his emotions cloud his judgment, had let his anger towards Jey blind him to the consequences of his actions. And now, he was paying the price for his arrogance.

"Guys, maybe we should just calm down and talk this out," Jey interjected, stepping between you and Roman, his hands raised in a placating gesture. He could feel the tension in the air, the anger radiating off both you and Roman like a palpable force, and he knew that if they didn't find a way to resolve this peacefully, things would only escalate further.

But neither you nor Roman seemed inclined to listen to reason, both of you still seething with anger and resentment towards each other. You glared at Roman, your fists clenched at your sides as you fought to control your rising temper. 

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Jey," you snapped, your voice laced with venom. "He's the one who started this, who used you against me. He doesn't get to play the peacemaker now."

Roman scoffed at your words, his eyes narrowing in disdain. "You lost, you tapped out, you humiliated yourself in front of your family, and now you want to play the victim?" he sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. "You made your bed, Y/N. Now lie in it."

Your blood boiled at Roman's words, the anger and hurt coursing through your veins like wildfire.

"How dare you!" You shouted,  your voice echoing through the arena, your chest heaving with anger and frustration. You pushed Roman away from you, taking a step back to compose yourself. 

"How dare I?!" Roman pushed back, his voice rising with fury. "How dare you come out here and try to blame me for your own failures? How dare you try to make me the villain in this story when all I've ever done is try to help you? You're the one who tapped out, who gave up, who let your pride get in the way of victory. And now you have the audacity to stand there and act like I'm the one who's wrong? You're delusional, Y/N. You're a disgrace to this family, to our legacy."

A resounding slap echoed through the arena as your hand connected with Roman's cheek, the sound reverberating like thunder in the tense silence that followed. Roman staggered back, his hand instinctively rising to his stinging cheek as he stared at you in shock, his expression a mixture of anger and disbelief.

Jey quickly stepped between you and Roman, his hands outstretched to keep you both apart. "That's enough!" he exclaimed, his voice firm and commanding. "Both of you, calm down!" He tried to push the both of you away from each other, Paul rushing in to assist Jey in diffusing the escalating tension.

But the damage had been done. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, and neither you nor Roman seemed inclined to back down. You glared at Roman, your chest heaving with anger and frustration, while Roman's expression was a mask of rage and indignation.

"You said you were gonna settle this, baby!" Jey grabbed your waist, pulling you away from Roman, his grip firm but gentle as he tried to calm you down. "You need to calm down, please, We can't go on like this. You're both tearing each other apart, and for what? A match? A championship? Is it really worth sacrificing your relationship over?" Jey's words cut through the tension like a knife, his voice pleading for reason, for peace, for a resolution that didn't involve further bloodshed.

Roman gripped the ropes of the ring, his knuckles turning white with the force of his grip. He glared at you, his eyes burning with anger and hurt, but underneath it all, there was a glimmer of something else. Something softer, more vulnerable, hidden beneath the layers of resentment and pride.

"You're still part of the Boodline, Y/N," Roman growled, his voice low and threatening. "You may not want to admit it, but you're still one of us. And no matter how much you try to push me away, I'll always be here for you. I may not agree with your decisions, with your actions, but I'll always love you. And I'll always be willing to fight for you, even when you won't fight for yourself."

You took a deep breath, steeling yourself for the storm of emotions raging inside you. "I'm leaving the Bloodline, Roman." You declared, your voice steady despite the turmoil in your heart.

It was like a pin dropped in the arena, the crowd falling silent as they processed your words. Jey let go of your waist, his eyes widening in shock at your declaration. Roman's expression turned icy, his features hardening with anger, hurt, and betrayal.

"You're what?" Roman's voice was barely above a whisper, but the intensity behind it sent shivers down your spine. 

"Yeah, you're what?" Jey's voice was sad, and filled with disbelief, his eyes searching yours for any sign of doubt, any indication that you were joking.

"You pushed me too far this time, Roman." Your eyes were filled with tears as you took a step back, your voice trembling with emotion. "I don't care if you hurt me, but you hurt the man I love in front of me, and you made me watch the life slip from his eyes. I can't forgive you for that. I won't forgive you for that."

You bit your lip, fighting back the tears threatening to spill over. "I'm done, Roman. I'm done being your pawn, your punching bag. I'm done sacrificing my happiness for your ego. I'm done pretending like everything is okay when it clearly isn't. I'm leaving the Bloodline, and I'm never coming back."

Roman's expression darkened, his eyes blazing with fury as he took a step towards you. You were his best friend, his family, his everything, and the thought of you leaving was like a knife twisting n his heart. "You... you can't leave, Y/N," he growled, his voice laced with desperation. "You're a part of this family, a part of this legacy. You can't just walk away from that."

But you stood your ground, your resolve unwavering despite the fear and uncertainty swirling inside you. "Watch me," you shot back, your voice firm and resolute.

You turned around, but you were stopped by Jey standing in front of you, stopping you in your tracks. His hand automatically went to your shoulder, and his eyes were filled with sadness and regret as he looked at you, his grip tightening slightly as if trying to anchor you to him, to the life you had built together.

"Y/N, please," he pleaded, his voice barely above a whisper. 

"Jey..." You started, but Jey nterrupted you, his voice filled with desperation. "Don't do this, baby. Please. We can work through this together. We can find a way to make things right, to rebuild what's been broken... we can start over, start fresh. You don't have to leave the Bloodline, leave me. We can make it work, I know we can."

"Yeah, we can make it work. Not me and Roman." You said softly, tears glistening in your eyes. 

"You leaving is leaving us." Jey 's voice cracked as he spoke, his own tears threatening to spill over. "I can't lose you, Y/N. I can't lose what we have. Please, don't do this. Please, don't leave me."

It was like deja vu, watching him cry was bringing you back to when you forced Roman to sign the contract and thought you left Jey for good, and you knew you couldn't live without him in your life. So this time, you were gonna make the right choice.

"Then come with me," you whispered, reaching out to cup Jey's cheek, your thumb wiping away a stray tear. "Come with me, Jey. Leave the Bloodline behind, leave Roman behind. We can start over, start fresh. Just you and me, against the world."

Jey's eyes widened in disbelief, his heart pounding in his chest as he processed your words. The thought of leaving the Bloodline, leaving his family, wasn't something he could do easily.

Roman's laughter interrupted  the tense moment, his voice dripping with scorn and amusement.

"Oh, this is rich," he sneered, his gaze flickering between you and Jey. "This happy couple thing the both of you have going on disgusts me. You two think you can just walk away from the Bloodline, from everything we've built together? You think you can just turn your backs on your family, on your legacy, and expect to live happily ever after? You're delusional, both of you. You'll always be part of the Bloodline, whether you like it or not. And if you think you can just walk away without consequences, you're sorely mistaken."

Roman's gaze went to Jey, and the angry expression on his face made Jey's heart grow with fear, scared of what Roman might do to him, to you, to their relationship. "Jey, I know I might be hard on you, but I love you. I did what I did to protect her, and I'm sorry for any pain I may have caused you."

You gaped as Roman was... outwardly apologizing to Jey. Roman NEVER apologized to anyone, let alone someone he considered family. 

Jey's expression softened at Roman's unexpected apology, his gaze flickering between you and Roman as he processed the words. He could see the sincerity in Roman's eyes, the genuine remorse behind his tough exterior, and it gave him a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to move forward from this mess.

"But you have to understand, she's making a mistake. She's letting her emotions cloud her judgment, and if you go with her, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. You'll regret leaving the Bloodline, leaving me. You'll regret choosing her over your own family."

"Roman..." Jey's voice was barely a whisper, his throat tight with emotion. 

"Don't you dare make him choose between us, Roman." You glared at Roman, stepping in front of Jey to shield him from Roman's manipulative words.

"You're the one that said something about making a choice, Y/N," Roman shot back, his voice dripping with contempt. "You're the one that's forcing him to choose between his loyalty to his family and his love for you. So don't act like I'm the bad guy here."

"Miss Y/N, he's right, y'know?" Paul interjected, his voice calm but firm as he stepped forward, his gaze flickering between you, Jey, and Roman. "You're putting Jey in an impossible position, asking him to choose between his loyalty to his family and his love for you. And as much as you hate to admit it, Roman has a point. You are making Jey get hurt either way, and if you truly love him you would sacrifice your own desires for the sake of his well-being."

You clenched your fists, your jaw tightening with frustration at Paul's words. He was right, of course, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. You couldn't bear the thought of losing Jey, of watching him choose between you and his family, between his loyalty and his love.

But you also couldn't bear the thought of staying in the Bloodline, of subjecting yourself to Roman's manipulation and control any longer.

"You're the one that's choosing to walk away, to abandon your family, your legacy, your bloodline. And for what? For a relationship that's built on lies and deception? You think Jey is going to choose you over his own flesh and blood? You think he's going to turn his back on everything he's ever known, everything he's ever fought for, everything he's ever believed in, just to be with you?"

You turned to Roman, tears filling your eyes as  you struggled to find the words to express the turmoil raging inside you. “Just shut up.”

“No, I’m not going to. And you know why?” Roman 's voice rose with anger, his fists clenched at his sides as he took a step towards you.

"Because I'm not going to stand here and watch you destroy everything we've built, everything we've fought for, everything we've sacrificed for, just because you can't handle a little pressure. You're selfish, Y/N. You're selfish for putting Jey in this position, for forcing him to choose between you and his family. And you're selfish for thinking that you can just walk away from the Bloodline without facing any consequences. I wont let you leave me, I wont let your stuborness destroy what we have, and  I wont let you take Jey away from me."

Roman's voice was low and menacing, his eyes flashing with anger and determination. “You will thank me for stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life. You will thank me for saving you from yourself.”

You shook your head, tears streaming down your cheeks as you took a step back, the weight of Roman's words bearing down on you like a ton of bricks. “I... you can’t force me to stay, Roman," you choked out, your voice breaking with emotion. 

"Like hell I can't," Roman growled, his voice laced with venom as he took another step towards you. "You're not leaving, Y/N. Not now, not ever. You're practically my family, and I'll be damned if I let you walk out that door and never look back. You're staying, whether you like it or not."

You scoffed at the utter insanity coming out of Roman's mouth, unable to comprehend how someone could be so controlling, so manipulative. "Are you actually this insane Roman?! You can't control my life!" 

"I can do whatever I want, Y/N," Roman snapped, his voice filled with rage and frustration. "I'm the head of the Bloodline, the Tribal Chief, and I make the rules around here. And the rule is, you're not leaving. Not without my permission."

Jey gently grabbed your hand, softly squeezing it in a silent gesture of support. "Baby, Roman doesn't mean any of that," he murmured, his voice filled with reassurance. "He's just... he's just scared of losing you, of losing his family."

You pulled away from Jey at his words. "What?" You stared at him in disbelief. You knew Roman had him in a chokehold, but you didn't think it was this bad. You were so gonna beat some sense into Roman. 

"Jey, please tell me you realize how crazy that sounds. He literally tricked you last week and put you in a chokehold to make me tap out. You think family acts like this? That they hurt and manipulate each other like this?" Your voice cracked with emotion, tears streaming down your cheeks as you struggled to make sense of the chaos unfolding around you.

Jey's expression softened, his eyes filled with regret as he reached out to cup your cheek. "I know, baby, I know," he whispered, his voice barely audible over the hum of the crowd.

"But he's family, and... and I can't just turn my back on him, on everything we've built together. I can't just walk away from the Bloodline, from our legacy. I can't... I can't choose between you and him, Y/N. I can't lose you, but I can't lose him either."

In Jey's mind, he stood up to Roman by not letting him take you from him and by being with you, so the two of you just needed to work your shit out and get on the same page. 

You sighed, hurt, but knowing where he was coming from. You knew that Jey was torn between his loyalty to Roman and his love for you, and you couldn't fault him for it. But at the same time, you couldn't stand by and watch as Roman continued to manipulate and control both of you. You had to make a choice, and you had to make it now.

"I told you that he would never choose you over me." Roman's voice turned somber, and a sense of triumph rang in his words as he looked at you, his gaze piercing through the veil of uncertainty that shrouded your heart.

"So please... stop this insanity. Stop trying to tear apart the only family you've ever known, the only family you've ever had. You belong with us, Y/N. You belong with me. So please... come home."

You stood there, caught between the two men you loved most in the world, their words swirling around you like a whirlwind of emotions. Roman actually looked remorseful, regretful, and... lonely. For the first time, you saw the vulnerability in his eyes, the pain hidden behind the facade of anger and control.

And for a moment, you couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for him, a flicker of understanding for the struggles he had faced, the burdens he had carried.

"Okay...I'll stay. Under one condition," you said finally, your voice firm and resolute. "I get another shot at your title. If I lose, I stay in the Bloodline for good, no strings attached. But if I win... you let me walk away, no questions asked... and I bring Jey with me."

You could feel Jey's gaze burning through you from across the ring, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief at your ultimatum. Roman's laugh echoed through the arena, but you could hear the hurt and resentment beneath the surface.

"You think I'm going to let you get another shot at my title, Y/N? You think I'm just going to hand it over to you on a silver platter, like some kind of consolation prize?" Roman sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. 

"You had your chance, Y/N. You had your shot at glory, and you blew it. You tapped out, you gave up, you proved that you're not worthy of holding this title. And now you have the audacity to stand there and demand another shot? You're delusional, Y/N. You're living in a fantasy world if you think I'm going to give you another chance to humiliate yourself, to embarrass yourself, to hurt you, because believe it or not, I actually care about you, Y/N. I care about you more than you'll ever know, and I don't want to see you get hurt again."

You bristled at Roman's words, the anger rising inside you like a tidal wave threatening to consume everything in its path. "You care about me?" you scoffed, your voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"If you cared about me, you wouldn't have manipulated me, you wouldn't have used me, you wouldn't have hurt me. You say you care about me, Roman, but your actions speak louder than words. And right now, your actions are telling me that you don't give a damn about me, about my feelings, about my well-being. You only care about yourself, about your precious title, about your precious legacy. Well, guess what, Roman? I don't give a damn about your title, about your legacy, about your precious Bloodline.

All I care about is getting justice for what you did to me, to Jey, to us. So you can either give me another shot at your title, or you can watch as I tear down everything you've ever worked for, piece by piece, until there's nothing left but ash and dust. The choice is yours, Roman. But know this... I won't stop until I get what I want. And if that means destroying everything you hold dear, then so be it."

"No, you not gonna do this." Jey interrupted, his voice filled with desperation as he stepped forward, his hand outstretched towards you.

"You think those bruises on your body magically appeared? No, they were caused by Roman. He manipulated you into signing the contract, he hurt you, he humiliated you, he made you feel like you were worthless. And now you want to give him another chance to do it all over again? You want to risk getting hurt again, just for the chance to prove that you're better than him? You want to get hurt by him just to prove a point? Just to hurt him?! Are you fucking crazy, Y/N?! Do you want to end up like me, forced to watch as you get hurt over and over again, unable to do anything to stop it? Is that really what you want?"

You flinched at Jey's words, the pain in his voice cutting through you like a knife. He was right, of course. You had seen the bruises on your body, felt the pain in your bones, and you knew deep down that Roman was capable of inflicting even more damage if given the chance. But you also couldn't bear the thought of letting him win, of letting him continue to manipulate and control you, to dictate your life and your choices.

Damn your stubbornness that led you to this point. "Jey... I''m doing this, for you." Your admission hung heavy in the air, the weight of your words settling over the ring like a shroud of uncertainty.

"You never got to choose how things went down with Roman last time. You never got to stand up for yourself, to fight back against the injustice he inflicted upon us. And I can't just stand by and let him get away with it. I have to do something, Jey. I have to fight back, for both of us. Even if it means risking everything, even if it means putting myself in harm's way. I have to try, Jey. I have to try."

"I'm not letting myself hurt you again." Roman interrupted,  his voice softening as he stepped forward, his gaze locked on yours with a mixture of regret and determination. "Listen to your boyfriend, Y/N. You really want to be battered and bruised again? You really want to do that? You can't beat me.

And even if you did somehow manage to win, it wouldn't change anything. I'd. never let you leave this faction, you'd still be part of the Bloodline, you'd still be my family, you'd still be trapped in this never-ending cycle of violence and betrayal. Is that really what you want, Y/N? Is that really worth risking everything for?"

You hesitated, the weight of Roman's words bearing down on you like a ton of bricks. He was right, of course. Even if you did somehow manage to defeat him, it wouldn't change the fact that he would never let you  leave the Bloodline. You would still be trapped in a toxic environment, forced to endure his manipulation and control for the rest of your life. And as much as you hated to admit it, you knew that Roman was right. You couldn't beat him, not without sacrificing everything you held dear. 

But as you turned to Jey, all that anger and hurt came back in a rush, the memories of everything you had endured together flooding your mind like a tidal wave. You remembered the nights spent comforting each other, the whispered promises of love and loyalty, the moments of pure bliss amidst the chaos of the world around you. And in that moment, you knew what you had to do.

"Yes." You whispered, your voice barely above a whisper as you looked into Jey's eyes, your heart heavy with regret and determination. "I have to do this, Jey. I have to try. For us." You turned back to Roman, a defiant look in your eye that he loved and hated at the same time. "Please, Ro." At your nickname for him, he paused, his expression softening slightly at the familiar term of endearment.

"Please, Roman," you continued, your voice pleading now, "let me do this. Let me have one more chance to prove myself, to prove that I'm not just some pawn in your game. Let me show you that I'm stronger than you think, that I'm capable of standing on my own two feet, that I'm not afraid to fight for what I believe in. Just... let me try."

Roman stared at you for a long moment, his gaze searching yours for any sign of doubt, any indication that you weren't serious about this. But all he saw was unwavering determination, a fierce determination that mirrored his own, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride swell in his chest. 

"If you can beat Auksa, and get back your Smackdown Women's Championship, then I accept  your request," Roman finally conceded, his voice low and measured. "But know this, Y/N... if you fail, if you lose to Auksa again, then that's it. No more chances, no more second opportunities. You'll stay in the Bloodline, and you'll never leave again. Do you understand?"

You nodded, the weight of Roman's words settling over you like a heavy burden. "I understand," you murmured, your voice barely audible over the hum of the crowd. "I'll do whatever it takes to win, Roman. I promise."

Roman's gaze softened at your words, a flicker of something akin to pride flashing in his eyes. "Good," he said simply, his voice firm but not unkind. "You'll need that title for when you lose to me for the 2nd time."

The tension in the arena was palpable as Roman's words hung in the air, a challenge issued and accepted. You knew that defeating Auksa and reclaiming your championship would be no easy task, especially with Roman looming over you like a shadow, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. But you knew you could do it.

With a nod of determination, you turned away from Roman, but when you turned back to Jey and saw the look in his eyes, you knew he was anything but okay with your decision. His expression was one of heartbreak and disappointment, his shoulders slumped in defeat as he realized that you were going to go through with this risky plan. You reached out to him, your heart aching at the thought of hurting him even more, but he pulled away, his gaze dropping to the floor as he struggled to compose himself.

But if you could finally beat Roman, then he would see that this was the right choice. You would prove to him that you were strong enough to stand on your own, that you were capable of making your own decisions, and that you were willing to fight for your freedom, for your happiness, for your love.

And that's all you ever wanted to do.

"Baby." You were now the one trying to talk to Jey, but he ignored you in favor of taking out  your luggagge in your rental car. You felt a pang of sadness as you watched him, knowing that you had hurt him deeply with your decision to go through with Roman's challenge. But you also knew that you couldn't let his pain stop you from doing what you believed was right.

"Jey, please," you pleaded, reaching out to touch his arm, but he flinched away from your touch, his expression closed off and unreadable. "I know you're upset, and I understand why. But please, try to see things from my perspective. I have to do this, Jey. I have to try to beat Roman, to prove to him that I'm not just some pawn in his game. I have to try to reclaim my title, to show him that I'm stronger than he thinks. And if I don't... if I fail... then at least I'll know that I tried. At least I'll know that I didn't give up without a fight."

Jey sighed, his shoulders sagging with resignation as he turned to face you, his gaze softening with regret and understanding. "I know, baby, I know," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. "And I'm not saying that I don't understand why you're doing this. I do. I understand completely. But... but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

You felt a lump form in your throat at his words, the weight of his disappointment settling over you like a heavy blanket. "I'm sorry, Jey," you whispered, tears stinging your eyes as you reached out to cup his cheek, but he pulled away from your touch, his expression guarded and closed off. "I'm sorry for hurting you, for putting you in this position. I never wanted to hurt you, Jey. You have to believe me."

Jey sighed, his gaze softening slightly as he reached out to take your hand in his, his touch gentle and reassuring. "I know you didn't, baby," he murmured, his voice filled with sadness and regret. "And I believe you. I do. But..I know you ain't gonna stop till you get what you want, and I respect that about you. I just... wish you weren't so stubborn, that it wouldn't kill you to listen to me. Do you not see that I'm just trying to protect you, to keep you safe from Roman's manipulation and control? I love you, Y/N. I love you more than anything in this world, and I would do anything to keep you safe, to keep you from getting hurt. 

But I also know that I can't stop you from doing what you believe is right, from fighting for what you believe in. And as much as it hurts me to see you put yourself in harm's way, I also know that I can't stand in your way, that I have to let you fight your own battles, make your own choices, and live with the consequences.

So... so please, just promise me one thing, Y/N. Promise me that you'll be careful, that you won't do anything reckless, that you'll come back to me in one piece. Can you do that for me, baby? Can you promise me that? That if you lose to Auska, then that's it. You'll stop trying to fight Roman and accept that you'll have to stay in the Bloodline, for better or for worse?"

You looked into Jey's eyes, seeing the love and concern shining through despite the pain and uncertainty clouding his gaze. You knew that he was asking you to make a difficult decision, to choose between your desire for revenge and your love for him.

And as much as it pained you to admit it, you knew that he was right. You couldn't keep putting yourself in harm's way, risking your safety and well-being for the sake of a vendetta against Roman. You had to put your love for Jey above all else, even if it meant sacrificing your own desires and ambitions.

With a heavy heart, you nodded, tears streaming down your cheeks as you reached out to cup Jey's cheek, your thumb wiping away a stray tear.

"I promise, Jey," you whispered, your voice trembling with emotion. "I promise that if I lose to Auska, then that's that. I won't keep trying to fight Roman, to prove myself, to reclaim my title. I'll accept that I'll have to stay in the Bloodline, for better or for worse. I promise that I'll be careful, that I won't do anything reckless, that I'll come back to you in one piece. I promise, Jey. I promise."

Jey's eyes softened at your words, his gaze searching yours for any sign of doubt, any indication that you weren't being sincere. But all he saw was unwavering determination, a fierce determination that mirrored his own, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride swell in his chest.

"Thank you, baby," he murmured, cupping your face and kissing you on the lips, his tongue slipping into your mouth in a desperate attempt to convey all the love and longing he felt for you in that moment.

You melted into his embrace, the weight of his love and support enveloping you like a warm blanket, soothing the ache in your heart and easing the doubts swirling in your mind.

When you pulled away reluctantly, you clung to his comforting cologne and the feel of his arms around you, cherishing the warmth and security he provided.

"I love you, Jey," you whispered, your voice barely above a whisper as you rested your forehead against his, your breath mingling with his in a silent exchange of love and affection.

"I love you too, baby," Jey murmured, his voice filled with emotion as he pressed his lips against yours once more, savoring the taste and feel of you against him. "More than anything in this world. And I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, to keep you happy, to keep you by my side. I promise."

You smiled through your tears, feeling a sense of peace settle over you as you clung to Jey, knowing that no matter what challenges lay ahead, you would face them together, as a team, as partners, as lovers. "You really promise?"

Jey smiled at you, guilt and regret lingering in his eyes as he nodded. "I promise, baby. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, to keep you happy, to keep you by my side. I won't let anything or anyone come between us, not even Roman."

You leaned into his embrace, feeling a sense of relief wash over you at his words. "Thank you, Jey," you whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Jey smiled, his arms tightening around you. "You ain't gotta know. I'll always protect you." Even from yourself.

He felt that same guilt when he was pacing in the locker room right before your match. He was so deep in his anxious thoughts he didn’t notice the door open until his twin's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, Uce. You alright?"

Jey looked up, meeting Jimmy's concerned gaze with a forced smile. He was glad his twin was finally cleared for in-ring action after his injury, but he couldn't help but feel guilty for dragging him into this mess with Roman and you. "Yeah, I'm fine, Uce," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper as he tried to push aside his doubts and fears. "Just... nervous, I guess."

Jimmy frowned, his expression filled with concern as he stepped forward, his hand resting on Jey's shoulder in a silent gesture of support. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, Uce," he murmured, his voice soft and reassuring.

"No, it ain't. You ain't been here, you don't know what been going on. Roman and Y/N been going at it, and I'm stuck in the middle. I just... I don't know what to do, Uce," Jey confessed, his voice filled with frustration and uncertainty.

"Did you talk to big uce?" Jimmy loved you and viewed you as a little sister, and he wanted nothing but the best for you and Jey. He knew that you both were going through a tough time, torn between loyalty to Roman and your love for each other. But he also knew that Jey needed to make a decision for himself, to choose what was best for him and his future.

Jey glared at the wall at the reminder of his conversation with Roman. It went about as well as you'd expected. Roman wasn't willing to let him go, to let either of you go, without a fight. And Jey didn't know if he had the strength to stand up to his cousin, to defy him and choose his own path. 

"Yeah, everything's good. He said he'd let her fight Auska on her own, but you know him. He gon' do something to interfere. He always does," Jey muttered, his voice filled with frustration and resignation. "I just... I don't know what to do, Uce. I want to be there for her, to support her, but I also don't want to go against Roman. He's family, Uce. And I can't just turn my back on him, on everything we've built together."

Jimmy sighed, his gaze softening with understanding as he squeezed Jey's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I know, Uce. But just let them work their shit out. If Roman wants to do some shit, then you let him. And if he tells you to stay out of it, then you stay out of it. You gotta do what's best for you, Uce. And if that means staying loyal to Roman, then so be it. But if it means standing by Y/N's side and supporting her, then you do that too. You gotta figure out what you want, Uce. What's gonna make you happy in the long run."

But Jey didn't know what would make him happy anymore. All he knew was that he couldn't bear to see you get hurt again, to watch as you put yourself in harm's way for the sake of revenge against Roman. He couldn't stand by and do nothing while you risked your safety and well-being for the chance to reclaim your title. But he also couldn't bring himself to betray Roman, to go against his family and everything they had built together.

A knock on the door made both men look up, and they saw you standing there, dressed in your wrestling gear and looking determined as ever, Naomi in tow.

Jey's heart clenched at the sight of you, knowing that you were about to step into the ring and face off against Auska, the current Smackdown Women's Champion, in a high-stakes match that could determine the course of your future.

"Can we come in?" You softly  asked, your voice wavering slightly with nerves as you glanced between Jey and Jimmy. You could see the worry etched on their faces, and it only served to heighten your own anxiety about the upcoming match.

"Of course, baby," Jey replied, his voice soft and reassuring as he stepped forward to open the door wider, allowing you to enter the locker room. He could see the determination shining in your eyes, the fire burning bright despite the uncertainty swirling around you, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride swell in his chest.

"You ready for this?" Jimmy asked after giving Naomi a kiss, his voice filled with concern as he studied you closely, taking in your appearance and demeanor with a critical eye. He knew that you were facing a tough opponent in Auska, and he wanted to make sure that you were mentally and physically prepared.

"As ready as she'll ever be." Naomi chimed in, her voice filled with confidence as she wrapped an arm around your shoulder, offering you a reassuring squeeze.

She narrowed her eyes at the worried looks on Jey and Jimmy's faces, knowing that you needed their support now more than ever. "You gonna show them what you're made of, right, sis?"

You nodded, a determined glint in your eye as you squared your shoulders and took a deep breath, steeling yourself for the challenge ahead. "Yeah, I'm ready," you replied, your voice steady and resolute despite the nerves fluttering in your stomach.

"We just wanted to say goodbye, before the match. Just in case." You forced a smile, trying to reassure Jey and Jimmy that you would be okay, even though deep down, you were terrified of what lay ahead.

Jey stepped forward, enveloping you in a tight embrace, his arms wrapping around you like a shield, protecting you from the doubts and fears swirling in your mind. "You got this, baby," he murmured, his voice filled with confidence and reassurance. "You're the strongest person I know, and I know you can beat Auska. Just stay focused, stay determined, and remember that I'll always be here for you, no matter what happens."

You nodded, burying your face in Jey's chest as you allowed yourself to soak in his warmth and strength, drawing comfort from his his presence as you clung to him for support.

"Thank you, Jey," you whispered, your voice muffled by his shirt as you breathed in his familiar scent, feeling a sense of peace settle over you. You pulled away and let him give you a good luck kiss, melting into him.

"Okay, okay, that's enough! I don't need to see that!" Jimmy exclaimed, pretending to shield his eyes from the affectionate display. You giggled at antics, kissing Jey exxageratingly, making him yell louder and Jey blush and chuckle in response. "Sorry, Uce," you teased, playfully ruffling his hair as you stepped back, feeling a surge of confidence wash over you at the sight of his smile. "We'll see you guys after the match, okay?"

Jimmy nodded, his expression softening with pride as he dapped you up. "Good luck out there, sis," he said, his voice filled with genuine warmth and encouragement. "I know you're gonna kill it."

You smiled at his words, feeling a sense of gratitude wash over you as you did your handshake with him, drawing strength from his unwavering support. "Thanks, Jimmy," you replied, your voice filled with determination and resolve. "I won't let you down."

With one last glance at Jey, you turned and followed Naomi out of the locker room, steeling yourself for the challenge that lay ahead.

"You see, she's fine." Jimmy concluded, his voice filled with pride as he watched you leave the locker room, knowing that you were about to face one of the toughest challenges of your career. He turned to Jey, his expression softening with concern as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "You gonna be okay, Uce?"

Jey nodded, a determined glint in his eye as he straightened his posture, steeling himself for the emotional rollercoaster that was about to unfold. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

He just wished those words would become true.

"You motherfucker!" Roman screamed at you as you made your way out of your new private locker room, courtesy of the new championship that rested on your shoulder, fury blazing in his eyes. "You tricked me!"

Let's go back to a hour prior, where you were beating the hell out of Auska. The match was violent, fast paced, and brutal, and for good reason: a title was on the line, and a rule was in place. If the ref caught anyone interfering, the other wrestle would automatically win. No one else knew this stipulation but you and Auska.

As you threw punch after punch, the adrenaline coursing through your veins, you could feel the crowd's energy pulsating around you. Every strike, every kick, every move was fueled by a burning desire to prove yourself, to show Roman that you were not to be underestimated, that you were a force to be reckoned with.

But just as victory seemed within your grasp, just as you were about to deliver the finishing blow to Auska, everything came crashing down in an instant. Roman's music hit, interrupting the flow of the match. You scoffed, knowing the mind games he plays, and turned back to ignore the distraction.

Naomi was standing at ringside, her expression filled with concern as she watched the chaos unfold, but you couldn't focus on her right now. Your attention was solely on Auska, on the task at hand, on proving to yourself and to everyone watching that you were the rightful champion and that you were not going to let anyone or anything stand in your way.

It turned out to be a false alarm, and the distraction only lasted a few seconds. But those few seconds were all Auska needed to try and capitalize on your momentary lapse in concentration and mist you, just as she did before to take the title from you.

But Naomi yelled at you to watch out, and you managed to dodge just in time, narrowly avoiding the green mist, but it ended up hitting the ref instead, making him collapse to the mat in agony, clutching at his eyes. Auska stopped what she was doing as she realized the chaos that had ensued.

With the referee incapacitated, the match was thrown into disarray, leaving you and Auska in a standstill as you slowly looked back to her, and the hairs on her arms stood up as she saw the look on your face. It was a mix of fury, frustration, and determination.

Anger surged through you as you realized what Auska had tried to do, and you knew that you couldn't let her get away with it. Not again.

"Are you kidding me?!" You shouted at Auska, your voice echoing with fury as you advanced towards her, your fists clenched at your sides. "I'll fucking kill you!" You lunged at Auska, your rage propelling you forward as you unleashed a flurry of punches, each one fueled by the burning desire for revenge.

Your brain was on autopilot, your body moving on instinct as you unleashed all of your pent-up frustration and anger on Auska, each strike landing with precision and force. But even as you rained down blows on your opponent, a small voice in the back of your mind whispered a warning, reminding you of the consequences of your actions, of the potential repercussions of losing control.

But you couldn't stop. Not now. Not when victory was within your grasp, when all you could see was red, when all you could feel was the burning need for retribution. Naomi was hyping you up, encouraging you to keep fighting, her voice a constant stream of support and encouragement as you unleashed your fury on Auska.

But even as you fought, a sense of guilt gnawed at the edges of your consciousness, reminding you of the promises you had made to Jey, of the risks you were taking by giving in to your anger and letting it consume you.

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the chaos came to an abrupt halt as your leg was pulled from underneath you, causing you to stumble and fall to the mat with a resounding thud. You blinked in surprise, momentarily disoriented as you tried to make sense of what had just happened.

And then you saw Kairi smirking at you, then that smirk getting wiped off as Naomi launched herself at her, taking her down with a fierce tackle, the force of the impact sending both women crashing to the ground in a tangled heap.

Auska joined in the fight, and you quickly scrambled to your feet, adrenaline coursing through your veins as you launched yourself at Auska, the four of you engaging in a chaotic brawl as the arena erupted into a frenzy of cheers and boos.

The match had devolved into utter pandemonium, with bodies flying and fists swinging in every direction. The ref was still down, so there was no one to call for order or to declare a winner. It was just chaos, pure and simple.

You all eventually ended up backstage, still beating the hell out of each other, the chaos continuing unabated as the brawl spilled into the backstage area.

"You thought you could beat me, Auska?!" You growled as you slammed her against the nearest wall, your fists raining down on her with relentless fury. "You thought you could take my title from me?!" You punctuated each word with a punishing blow, the sound of your knuckles connecting with her flesh echoing through the hallway as you unleashed all of your pent-up anger and frustration.

Naomi grabbed Kairi by the hair, pulling her away from the fray and slamming her against a nearby equipment crate. "Y/N, finish her off!" Naomi yelled, her voice filled with urgency as she grappled with Kairi, trying to subdue her long enough for you to finish the job. She knew that you were on the brink of victory, that you had Auska right where you wanted her, and she wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through your fingers.

You nodded at Naomi's words, your heart pounding with adrenaline as you focused all of your energy on defeating Auska once and for all. You grabbed her by the head, and started dragging her to the ring, your hands gripping her hair tightly as you pulled her along, determination burning bright in your eyes, going faster as you could taste the victory and feel it on your fingertips.

But just as you reached the entrance ramp, ready to deliver the finishing blow and claim victory, a push from behind sent you tumbling down the ramp, Auska's limp body collapsing on top of you as you both crashed to the ground in a tangled heap.

You groaned in pain, the impact knocking the wind out of you as you struggled to catch your breath, your head spinning from the sudden fall.

As you lay on the ground, trying to shake off the dizziness and regain your bearings, you felt a surge of anger rise up within you at the cowardly attack. You glanced up, expecting to see Auska standing over you, a smug grin on her face, but instead, you were met with the sight of Roman, his expression twisted with rage as he glared down at you, his fists clenched at his sides.

"I told you, I won't let anyone come between us." Roman's voice was low, filled with barely-contained fury as he stared down at you, his gaze burning with intensity. "Not even you, Y/N."

Instead of reacting angrily like he expected you to, too, you surprised Roman by laughing, a smile on your lips despite the pain coursing through your body.

He furrowed his brow in confusion, taken aback by your unexpected reaction. "What's so funny?" he demanded, his voice tinged with irritation as he glared down at you. The ref was down after being misted, and he was about to cost you the match.

You grinned up at him, your eyes sparkling with mischief as you shook your head. "That you only have yourself to blame for me winning." You replied, your voice laced with amusement as you pointed to the ref, who saw everything that happened and was signaling for the bell to ring.

"And due to disqualification, the winner and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, is Y/N!" The announcer boomed over the arena speakers, and you smiled even wider as Roman's eyes widened in shock, his expression morphing into one of disbelief as he realized the implications of your words.

You could see the anger bubbling beneath the surface, the frustration at having been outsmarted, and you couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction wash over you at the sight of his defeat.

You got up with a smirk and made you way to the ring, grabbing YOUR title belt and holding it high above your head, your smirk turning into a smile as you saw Jey making his wy down to the ring, turning the other way and propping yourself up on the turnbuckle.

What you didn't see was Roman and Jey staring each other down, the tension between them palpable as they stood across from each other on the ramp, their eyes speaking more than words ever could.

Romans told Jey to go fix this or else, and Jey's eyes were telling Roman that he might choose his own path, to finally break free from Roman's control and to stand up for what he believed in.

But as much as Jey wanted to defy his cousin, to choose his own destiny and to fight for his own happiness, he couldn't bring himself to abandon his family, to turn his back on everything they had built together.

But then he thought of you, of the promise he had made to protect you, to keep you safe and happy, and he knew the only way to do that was to keep you in the Bloodline and make you and Roman patch things up. He could live with you being mad at him, but not with you being hurt because of Roman.

You dropped down from the turnbuckle to jump into Jey's arms, arms, wrapping your arms around his neck as he caught you, spinning you around in a joyous embrace as the crowd erupted into cheers, the sound echoing throughout the arena. You couldn't stop smiling as you clung to Jey, feeling a sense of relief wash over you at the sight of his familiar face, knowing that he was there to support you, to celebrate your victory, to stand by your side no matter what.

"I did it, Jey," you exclaimed, your voice filled with excitement as you looked into his eyes, seeing the pride and adoration shining in his gaze. "I actually did it!"

Jey grinned at you, his heart swelling with pride as he hugged you tightly, his arms wrapped around you like a protective shield. "I knew you could do it, baby," he murmured, his voice filled with genuine warmth and affection.

"I'm so proud of you." The guilt lingered in the back of his mind, a constant reminder of the difficult choices he had to make, of the sacrifices he had to endure for the sake of his family.

But when you kissed him passionately, all thoughts of guilt and regret melted away, replaced by a sense of overwhelming love and happiness as you basked in the glow of your victory.

"Huh, answer me?! Roman's outburst brought you back into the present time, and you looked up at him, a defiant glint in your eye as you slowly rose to your feet, clutching the title belt tightly in your hands.

"It's not my fault you decided to interfere." You snarked at him, a defiant glint in your eye as you moved towards him, clutching the title belt tightly in your hands. "I played the game fair and square, Roman. And I won. So deal with it."

You noticed the mist marks on his face and started laughing. "Oh, I guess Auska wasn't too happy that you ruined her plan, huh?" You taunted, a smirk playing on your lips as you took a step forward, closing the distance between you and Roman. "Looks like karma's a bitch."

You tried to move past Roman, but he stepped into your path, blocking your way with his imposing presence. His eyes burned with fury as he glared down at you, his jaw clenched tight with anger.

"Why are you acting like this?!" Roman growled at you, his voice laced with frustration and disbelief. "After everything I've done for you, after all the opportunities I've given you, you choose to betray me like this?!"

You scoffed, shaking your head in disbelief at Roman's words. "Betray you? Are you serious right now?" You shot back, your voice dripping with sarcasm as you stared him down, unflinching in the face of his anger.

"Yes, I'm serious." Roman replied, iconically sounding exasperated and defiant at the same time. "I've done everything for you, Y/N. I've given you opportunities, I've supported you, I've protected you. How many years have we been family, Y/N? How many times have I had your back, had your best interests at heart? And this is how you repay me? By going behind my back, by defying me, by siding with them?!"

"Siding with them? Are you hearing yourself right now? You sound insane!" You retorted, incredulous at Roman's accusations. "You're the one who started this whole mess, Roman. I'm the one trying to get my best friend back, to fix what you ruined!"

You took a step forward, your voice rising with each word as you stared Roman down, refusing to back down in the face of his anger. "I'm tired of being your puppet, Roman. I'm tired of living in your shadow, of doing your bidding without question. I have sacrificed too much for you to make you happy, let you push and push , but this time you pushed too far. And weren't you the one that said sometimes you need to show the ones you love the truth so they can understand the pain they cause?"

You paused, your chest heaving with emotion as you locked eyes with Roman, daring him to deny the truth of your words. "Well, consider this me showing you the truth, Roman. If I have to take the very title you hold dear to make you see that, then so be it."

Roman's expression was a mixture of shock and anger as he listened to your words, his fists clenched at his sides as he struggled to process the magnitude of what you were saying. He had never expected you to turn against him like this, to defy him so openly and without remorse.

But deep down, he knew that he had brought this upon himself, that his actions had driven you to this point, and he couldn't help but feel hurt at the thought of losing the person that meant more to him than anything else in the world. He thought of what he was doing wrong, of what he needed to do to make you loyal to him.

The only other time he had this issue was with Jey, and he made sure to make sure Jey knew his place in the Bloodline. But with you, it was different. You were family, but you were also his equal, his partner, his confidant.

Wait… Jey. Jey was the key in bringing you back into the fold, Roman realized. He pushed Jey to make put him in his place when he was acting out, and he knew he could do the same with you. He had to make Jey see reason, to make him understand that you both belonged with him, in the Bloodline, where you could thrive and succeed together. And he knew just the way to do it.

"Then I guess that applies to you too." Roman paused, his voice low and dangerous as he took a step closer to you, his eyes narrowing with determination. "If you want to show me the truth, Y/N, then let me show you mine." With that, he left the hallway, leaving you to contemplate the weight of his words and the implications of his actions.

You stood there in the hallway, feeling a sense of unease settle over you as you pondered Roman's warning. Part of you wanted to dismiss his words, to brush off his threats as nothing more than empty promises meant to intimidate you into submission.

But another part of you couldn't shake the feeling that there was truth to what he said, that he had the power and influence to make your life a living hell if you dared to defy him.

But you had Jey, Jimmy, and Naomi by your side. They would be by your side… right? Roman couldn't possibly turn them against you, could he?

"Baby?" At your voice, Jey perked up from where he laid in bed, turning to face you with concern etched in his features. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice filled with worry as he reached out to gently brush a strand of hair away from your face.

"I feel like I should be asking you that." You murmured, your voice barely above a whisper as you snuggled closer to Jey, seeking comfort and solace in his embrace. "You've been quiet for the past few days. I know I leave you breathless with my beauty, but you have been unusually silent even for you," you teased, trying to lighten the mood with a playful jab.

Jey chuckled softly, the sound like music to your ears as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close against his chest. "I've just been thinking," he admitted, his voice low and reflective as he pressed a soft kiss to the top of your head.

"That's not a good sign." You finished his sentence with a playful smile, reaching up to caress his cheek gently. "What's been on your mind, Jey? You know you can talk to me about anything."

Jey sighed, his expression turning serious as he met your gaze, his eyes filled with uncertainty and doubt. "I just feel like… I promised to protect you, to keep you safe and happy, but I don't know if I'm doing a good job of that." He confessed, his voice tinged with guilt as he struggled to put his feelings into words.

"I'm supposed to be the man and take care of you, but I'm failing at that." His voice was sad and filled with self-doubt, and you felt your heart ache at the sight of his pain. You reached out and gently cupped his face in your hands, forcing him to meet your gaze as you searched his eyes for any sign of reassurance.

"Jey, look at me," you whispered, your voice soft and soothing as you tried to convey your love and support through your voice, but he pulled away, avoiding your gaze as he shook his head.

"No, Y/N, I know what you're gonna say, that I'm doing my best and that's all that matters, but I'm not, and that's the fucking truth." His voice cracked under the weight of his emotions, his words filled with self-doubt and frustration. You could see the turmoil swirling in his eyes, the pain etched into his features, and it broke your heart to see him struggling like this.

"Jey, just because you feel like you're not doing enough doesn't mean you're failing," you interrupted gently, your voice firm but filled with compassion as you reached out to gently cup his face in your hands, forcing him to meet your gaze. "I'm doing this for you, I'm choosing to do this-"

"That's the problem, you're choosing to do this," Jey interjected, his voice tinged with bitterness as he pulled away from your touch, his eyes filled with a mixture of pain and frustration. "You shouldn't have to sacrifice yourself for me, Y/N. You shouldn't have to put yourself in harm's way just to prove a point or to protect me. I should be the one protecting you, not the other way around."

"You are doing everything you can to protect me, Jey," you insisted, your voice filled with conviction as you reached out to gently touch his arm, hoping to reassure him of your love and support.

"How? By watching you put yourself in danger? By standing by while you risk your life for me?" Jey retorted, his voice laced with frustration as he turned away from you, unable to bear the weight of his guilt any longer. "That should be me taking the hits, taking the risks, not you. I can't stand seeing you hurt, Y/N."

"And you think I should just sit back and watch you get hurt instead?" You shot back, your voice tinged with frustration as you struggled to make him see reason.

"Yeah, I do." Jey snarked at you, his tone defiant as he turned back to face you, his eyes blazing with intensity. "Because that's what I signed up for, Y/N. I signed up to be the one to take the hits, to take the risks, to protect you at all costs. That's my job, my duty, and I won't let anyone else take that away from me. Not even you."

You blinked at Jey's words, stunned into silence by the raw intensity of his emotions. "What's that supposed to mean, Jey?" you asked, your voice barely above a whisper as you searched his eyes for any sign of reassurance.

"It means that I love you, baby." Jey replied, his voice soft and filled with emotion as he reached out to gently cup your face in his hands, forcing you to meet his gaze. "It means that I would do anything to protect you, to keep you safe and happy, and I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me. I can't."

"But don't you get that I'm doing this because he hurt you! " You exclaimed, your voice trembling with emotion as you struggled to make Jey understand the depth of your feelings.

"I forgave him, Y/N." Jey's voice was quiet, but filled with conviction as he looked into your eyes, his gaze unwavering as he spoke. "And I think you should too."

His words hung heavy in the air, the weight of their meaning sinking in as you processed his confession. "What did you say?" Your voice was barely a whisper, disbelief and shock coloring your words as you stared at Jey, unable to comprehend what you had just heard.

"I said I forgave him." " Jey repeated, his eyes firm and resolved as he met your gaze, his expression serious and determined. "Roman may not have always made the right choices, but he's still family, Y/N. And family sticks together, no matter what."

You shook your head in disbelief, unable to comprehend Jey's words. "What did he say to you?" You murmured, your voice barely above a whisper as you searched Jey's eyes for any sign of hesitation or doubt.

"What?" Jey tried to act nonchalant, but you could see the uncertainty flickering in his eyes, the hesitation in his voice as he struggled to find the right words.

"Last week you were telling me that you have to let me fight my own battles, that you can't keep protecting me from everything. And now you're telling me that you forgave Roman? What. Did. He. Say. To. You?"

Jey's eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty as he met your gaze, his lips pressed into a thin line as he struggled to find the right words to say. "Nothing. Let it go, Y/N," he replied evasively, his voice tinged with guilt as he averted his gaze, unable to meet your eyes.

"Jey, please." You pleaded, your voice soft and filled with emotion as you reached out to gently touch his arm, hoping to reassure him of your love and support, and he flinched away from your touch, his eyes filled with sadness and regret as he turned away from you, unable to bear the weight of his guilt any longer.

"I can't, Y/N," he whispered, his voice barely above a whisper as he struggled to contain his emotions. "I can't let you keep sacrificing yourself for me. I can't keep watching you put yourself in harm's way just to prove a point or to protect me. I have to do this, for both of us."

You felt a lump form in your throat at Jey's words, a sense of sadness washing over you as you realized the depth of his sacrifice, the lengths he was willing to go to in order to protect you and keep you safe. "Jey, please," you pleaded, your voice trembling with emotion as you reached out to him, desperate to make him understand. "I can't lose you too."

Jey's eyes turned glassy, but he refused to shed a tear, his expression a mix of pain and determination as he met your gaze, and the longer your heart writhed in pain. "How do you think I feel, Y/N?" he whispered, his voice filled with anguish as he took a step back, his eyes clouded with tears as he struggled to contain his emotions. "How do you think it feels to watch you put yourself in danger, to see you risk your life for me? I can't bear the thought of losing you, Y/N. I can't."

You felt your heart break at Jey's words, the weight of his pain and guilt crashing down on you like a tidal wave. "Jey… I'm sorry that I put you in this position," you whispered, your voice choked with emotion as you reached out to gently touch his arm, hoping to offer him some small measure of comfort. "I never meant to hurt you, or put you in the middle, Jey. I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Then stop, Y/N. Stop putting yourself in danger for me. Stop sacrificing yourself for my sake. I can't bear to see you hurt, Y/N. I can't." Jey's voice was soft, filled with pain and confusion as he pleaded with you, his eyes pleading for you to understand, to see reason, to stop endangering yourself for his sake.

"You already got a championship, do you really need to risk your life anymore? Can't you just let it go? "

'I can't let you get hurt, otherwise Roman will do to you what he did to me' Jey thought, his heart aching with the weight of his guilt and regret. "Please, Y/N. Please."

You blinked back tears at Jey's words, the depth of his pain and anguish cutting through you like a knife.

" I'm sorry, Jey," you whispered, your voice filled with remorse as you reached out to gently touch his cheek, hoping to convey the depth of your love and regret through your touch. "But I can't stop when I'm so close to getting justice for what Roman did to you. I can't just let it go, Jey. Not when he's still out there, still causing harm to people I care about. I have to do this, Jey. For you, for me, for everyone he's hurt."

Jey's eyes softened at your words, a flicker of understanding crossing his features, and he looked like he wanted to get something off his chest that had been locked in his heart for far too long, but instead he remained silent, his emotions roiling beneath the surface.

"I need my best friend back, Jey." You pleaded, your voice filled with longing and sadness as you gazed into Jey's eyes, hoping to convey the depth of your emotions through your words. "This Tribal Chief bullshit is getting to Romans head, and he's not the same person he used to be. He's lost sight of who he is, of what's really important, and I can't stand by and watch him self-destruct like this. I have to make him see reason, Jey. I have to make him understand the consequences of his actions, of the pain and suffering he's causing to everyone around him. I can't just let him get away with it, Jey. I can't."

Jey's eyes turned icy, his expression unreadable as he listened to your words, his mind swirling with conflicting emotions. "You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped, Y/N," he replied, his voice low and filled with resignation as he met your gaze, his eyes filled with sadness and regret. "Roman's made his choices, and he's not gonna change just because you ask him to. You can't save him, Y/N. You can't fix him. And you can't sacrifice yourself trying to."

You felt a pang of guilt at Jey's words, the weight of his pain and sadness pressing down on you like a heavy burden. At the sight of your teary eyes, Jey sighed and inched closer to you, wrapping his arms around you in a gentle embrace. "Shh, I know baby. Please don't cry."

You wrapped your arms tightly around Jey, clinging to him for support as you buried your face in his chest, the tears streaming down your cheeks as you let out a choked sob. "I just want things to go back to the way they used to be, Jey," you whispered, your voice muffled by his shirt as you allowed yourself to release all of the pent-up emotions that had been weighing on your heart. "I want my best friend back. I want Roman to see reason. I want us to be happy again."

Jey held you close, his arms wrapped around you like a protective shield as he gently stroked your hair, murmuring soothing words of comfort and reassurance as he tried to calm your racing heart. "I know, baby. I know," he whispered, his voice filled with empathy and understanding as he pressed a tender kiss to the top of your head. "I got you. Always."

He maneuvered you to sit on top of him as he leaned back against the headboard of the bed, cradling you in his arms as he held you close, his heart aching with the weight of your pain and longing. He whispered sweet nothings to you as your tears slowly subsided and your eyes turned heavy with the need for sleep.

Jey's arms tightened around you, his touch a comforting presence as you drifted off into a troubled sleep, your dreams filled with visions of the past, of happier times, of a future filled with uncertainty and hope.

As you slept, Jey stayed by your side, his gaze never leaving your face as he watched over you with a mixture of love and concern. His mind went back to his meeting with Roman, and the weight of their conversation weighed heavily on his mind.

"Jey, we both know she won't stop until she tears us apart." Roman had told Jey during their meeting, his face filled with a mixture of anger and concern. "She's stubborn, Jey. She's determined. And she's not going to give up until she gets what she wants.So I need to stop her from beating Auska, and you're not gonna stop me making sure that happens."

"Hold up." Jey interrupted, his expression filled with confusion and disbelief as he turned to Roman. "You want me to know you boutta sabotage her match? You want me to go against my own girlfriend, my own family, just to keep her from getting another shot at your title? Are you out of your damn mind, Roman?"

Roman's expression hardened at Jey's defiance, his gaze narrowing as he took a step towards him. "I'm not asking you to go against her, Jey," he replied, his voice low and measured. "I'm asking you to do what's best for both of you, for the Bloodline. And if that means stopping her from getting another shot at my title, then so be it. You know she can't beat me, Jey. She's not ready, she's not prepared, and she's not strong enough to take me on. So why would you want to put her in harm's way, to risk her safety and well-being for the sake of a foolish vendetta against me?"

Jey clenched his fists, his jaw tightening with frustration at Roman's manipulative words. He knew that Roman was trying to play on his fears and insecurities, to make him doubt his own judgment and loyalties. But deep down, Jey knew that he couldn't betray you, not after everything you had been through together. You were his rock, his anchor, his everything, and he couldn't bear the thought of turning his back on you, of betraying your trust and love.

"This is between the two of you." Jey finally spoke, his voice firm and resolute as he met Roman's gaze head-on. "I can't choose sides, Roman. I won't. Y/N is my girlfriend, my partner, my family. And I'll do whatever it takes to support her, to stand by her, to protect her. Even if it means going against you."

Roman's face hardened, and he took a step closer to Jey, the tension in the air palpable as the two cousins faced off against each other. "I heard Jimmy's coming back tonight." At the mention of his twin, Roman took a step closer to Jey, the tension in the air palpable as the two cousins faced off against each other.

"Yeah, he is." Jey replied, his voice tinged with caution, excitement and anticipation.

"Would be a shame if Jimmy got caught up in all of this, wouldn't it?" Roman's voice was calm, but there was a dangerous edge to it, a silent threat lurking beneath the surface.

Jey's eyes narrowed, his muscles tensing as he stared back at Roman. "You wouldn't dare," he growled, his voice low and menacing.

Roman's lips curled into a cold smile. "Try me," he replied, his voice dripping with confidence. "We both know that if I hurt poor Jimmy, that would only add fuel to the fire. Naomi would be distraught , Y/N would blame herself, and their relationship would be irreparably damaged. Are you willing to risk all that, Jey? Think about what's truly important to you. Is it your loyalty to your family, or is it protecting the ones you love?"

Jey's heart clenched as he gritted his teeth, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. If he continued to defy Roman, he risked not only his own safety but also the safety and well-being of his loved ones. But if he betrayed you, he would lose the trust and respect of the person who meant everything to him.

"That's what I thought." Roman's voice was smug as he turned away from Jey, confident that he had gotten his message across. "You know what you have to do, Jey. Make the right choice."

His phone dinging brought Jey out of his thoughts, and he gently reached over to check the notification, his heart sinking at the sight of the message from Roman. "Did you convince her to drop the title match?"

That was their ultamatium. Make Y/N drop the match, or else Jimmy would pay the price. Jey's heart raced with fear and uncertainty as he read Roman's message, his mind swirling with conflicting emotions. Either you get hurt or Jimmy gets hurt. It was an impossible choice, a decision that tore at Jey's heart as he struggled to find a way to protect both you and his family. but he would rather hurt you emotionally then see his brother pay the price for his defiance.

"She's on the fence about dropping the match," Jey replied, his fingers trembling as he typed out the words, his heart heavy with guilt and regret. "But I'll try to talk her out of it."

A sense of unease settled over Jey as he hit send, knowing that he was betraying your trust and love in order to protect his family. But deep down, he knew that he couldn't risk Jimmy's safety, couldn't bear the thought of his brother getting caught in the crossfire of his feud with Roman.

A ding interrupted his thoughts, and Jey's heart sank as he read Roman's response. "If that doesn't convince her, then you know who pays the price." Jey's hands shook as he stared at the message, the weight of Roman's threat pressing down on him like a heavy burden. He knew that he had to do something, had to find a way to protect both you and Jimmy from Roman's wrath.

"I'm sorry, Y/N," he whispered, his voice choked with emotion as he gently brushed a strand of hair away from your face, his heart breaking at the thought of what he had to do next. "I can't let anything happen to you, to Jimmy. I have to find a way to protect you both, no matter what it takes."

Jey knew that he couldn't let Roman's threats become a reality, and even if he had to betray your trust and love to make sure they don't come true, he was willing to do whatever it took to keep you safe.

FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN

incoming text from Naomi<3: girl, somethings up with our men.

outgoing text to Naomi<3: what do you mean?

incoming text from Naomi<3: Jimmy just left the house without saying anything, and Jey's been acting all weird and distant lately. I'm worried, Y/N. Something's not right.

outgoing text to Naomi<3: was jimmy acting normal before he left?

incoming text from Naomi<3: No, he seemed tense and on edge. And when I asked him where he was going, he just brushed me off and said he had some business to take care of.

outgoing text to Naomi<3: That's strange. Jey's been acting the same way lately. I think Roman is involved somehow. I think I know what's up. Talk to you after my interview. Love you.

incoming text from Naomi<3: kay boo, love you too <3

You turned off your phone as you shifted in your chair nervously, a tech telling you your interview segment with Roman would start in a few minutes. Your mind raced with thoughts of what could be happening. Jey had been acting strangely, and now Jimmy was mysteriously leaving the house without explanation. It all seemed too coincidental to ignore, and you couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and you seemed to know what it was.

"I'm Michael Cole, and welcome back to Friday Night Smackdown! I'm here with the Tribal Chief himself, Roman Reigns, and the Smackdown Women's Champion, Y/N, for an exclusive interview. Roman, Y/N, thank you for joining us tonight."

"Thank you for having us, Michael," Roman replied, his expression cool and composed as he settled into his seat, his eyes locked on yours with an intensity that sent a shiver down your spine.

"You're welcome, Michael," you echoed, your voice steady despite the turmoil swirling inside you as you met Roman's gaze head-on, determined not to show any signs of weakness or fear.

"Now, let's get straight to the point. The 2 of you used to be best friends, the unstoppable duo of the WWE, now it seems like all of that is just a distant memory. Fights, clashes, and tension have been brewing between you two for weeks now. Roman, can you shed some light on what caused this rift between you and Y/N?"

Roman's gaze remained steady as he spoke, his words measured and deliberate. "This 'rift' was caused when I reminded Y/N of her place, and I did that at Hell in a Cell when I tapped her out. She just can't accept that while I see her as an equal, she is not on my level. She can't handle that I have the power that she has always yelieded, and she can't handle that I have the power now. You lost your title, and I had to punish you for your disobedience, and that's when you started to turn against me."

You clenched your jaw at Roman's words, fighting to keep your emotions in check as you listened to his manipulative rhetoric. "You know what Roman? You are right. I was foolish in thinking that I was exempt from your tyranny. I was foolish in thinking that you were still the same person I used to call my friend. But you're not, Roman. You've changed. You've let the power go to your head, and now you're just a shadow of the person you used to be.

You leaned forward in your seat, your eyes blazing with determination as you faced off against Roman, refusing to back down in the face of his intimidation tactics "But don't you dare forget that I was the person that helped create the Roman Reigns that everyone fears today. I was the one who stood by your side, who fought alongside you, who believed in you when no one else did. I was the one that built this monster that you've become, and now it's time for me to tear it down."

Roman tried to remain impassive, but you could see the hurt that your words inflicted, the flicker of doubt and insecurity that crossed his features before he quickly masked it with a facade of arrogance and superiority. "And don't you dare forget that you, Y/N, are the monster that helped me become the Tribal Chief," he retorted, his voice dripping with venom as he leaned forward, his eyes flashing with anger.

"You were the one who egged me on, who pushed me to embrace my destiny, who encouraged me to seize power at any cost. So don't try to play the victim now, Y/N. You knew what you were getting yourself into when you chose to align yourself with me, when you chose to stand by my side as my equal. You are a manipulative, calculating, and selfish person who will do anything to get what she wants, even if it means sacrificing the ones she claims to care about."

"That's rich coming from the person who's willing to manipulate and threaten his own family just to maintain control," you shot back, your voice dripping with contempt as you stared down Roman, refusing to be intimidated by his attempts to gaslight you.

"Oh really?" Roman leaned back in his chair, his expression filled with smug satisfaction as he met your gaze head-on. "And how many women in that locker room have you thrown under the bus to get to the top? How many friendships have you betrayed, how many promises have you broken, how many lives have you ruined just to satisfy your own selfish desires? Why do you think no one trusts you, Y/N? Why do you think you're all alone in this world, with no one to stand by your side? It's because you've burned every bridge, alienated every ally, and betrayed every friend you've ever had."

Your eyes turned steely as Roman continued his tirade, his words cutting through you like a knife as he struck at the heart of your insecurities and fears. The worst part was that he was right. You had made mistakes, you had hurt people, you had let your ambition and thirst for power cloud your judgment and lead you down a dark path. You were a monster that had created your own downfall, and now you were paying the price for your sins.

"And now here you are, acting like you haven't done anything wrong, like you're the victim in all of this," Roman continued, his voice filled with disdain as he stared you down, his gaze piercing through your defenses with a brutal honesty that left you feeling exposed and vulnerable.

"Well, let me tell you something, Y/N. You're not the victim here. You're the villain. You're the one who's been pulling the strings, manipulating everyone around you to get what you want. And now you're paying the price for your actions, for your betrayal, for your selfishness.

And you know what? You deserve it. You deserve to suffer, to feel the pain and anguish that you've inflicted on others. You deserve to be alone, to be abandoned, to be hated by everyone you've ever cared about. Because that's what happens when you cross the Tribal Chief. That's what happens when you dare to defy me. But you can end this cycle of pain and destruction, Y/N. You can stop fighting against me and embrace your destiny as my right hand women, and come back to your best friend!"

Roman concluded, his voice softening slightly, his eyes filled with a mixture of concern and pity. "All you have to do is drop the title match, and everything will go back to the way it used to be. You'll be safe, you'll be protected, and you'll have everything you've ever wanted. So what do you say, Y/N? Are you ready to stop fighting against me and start fighting alongside me? Are you ready to accept your rightful place by my side as my equal, my partner, my family?"

As you listened to Roman's words, a whirlwind of emotions swept through you. His accusations stung, hitting painfully close to home, but a part of you couldn't help but wonder if there was a grain of truth to them. Had you really become the villain in this story?

Had your thirst for revenge blinded you to the consequences of your actions? And was it worth sacrificing everything, including your relationships with those you loved, just to satisfy your own desires for justice?

"Y/N," Michael Cole's voice interrupted your thoughts, bringing you back to reality as he turned to you expectantly, his gaze filled with curiosity and anticipation. "What's your response to Roman's offer? Will you drop the title match and reconcile with him and bring your title to the Bloodline, or will you continue to fight against him and risk losing everything?"

You took a deep breath, steeling yourself for what was to come as you met Roman's gaze head-on, your eyes blazing with determination. "You call me a monster, but I'm not the one threatening Jimmy to get Jey to betray me."

At your words, Roman's facade of confidence faltered, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his features before he quickly regained his composure, his expression turning cold and impassive once again.

"Jey, you can come to me right now, I know you're watching, I won't be mad, I just want you to come to me." You looked straight into the camera, your voice breaking slightly with emotion as you addressed your boyfriend, hoping that he would hear your plea and make the right choice.

Roman's face turned from uncertain to smug as he realized he still held the upper hand. "I almost forgot how smart you are, Y/N. That's why you are my best friend and my partner, and I know you'll make the right choice." He said, his voice dripping with confidence as he leaned back in his chair.

"Jey, you can come out now." Roman instructed, and you scoffed as the camera panned on Roman's face, his smirk widening as Jey made his way from the corner of the room, stepping into view with a conflicted expression on his face.

Your heart sank as you watched Jey approach, his eyes filled with guilt and shame as he avoided your gaze, unable to meet your eyes. "Why are you putting him in the middle of this, Roman?" you demanded, your voice trembling with anger and betrayal as you turned to face Roman, your eyes flashing with fury. "He has nothing to do with our feud, nothing to do with our rivalry!"

Roman's smirk only widened at your outburst, his eyes gleaming with triumph as he leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped together in front of him. "Because, Y/N, Jey is family," he replied, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "And you said if you beat me, you would take Jey away from the bloodline, and you are not going to do that. So I had to remind him of where his loyalties lie, of what's truly important. And it seems like he's made the right choice, hasn't he, Jey?"

You felt a knot form in your stomach at Roman's words, the weight of his manipulation and coercion pressing down on you like a suffocating blanket. You had hoped that Jey would stand by your side, that he would refuse to be swayed by Roman's threats and intimidation tactics. But now, as you watched him approach with a heavy heart, you couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal and disappointment wash over you.

Jey's jaw clenched as he stood before you, torn between his loyalty to you and his fear of Roman's retribution. "I'm sorry, Y/N," he murmured, his voice barely audible as he met your gaze, his eyes filled with guilt and shame. "I can't let anything happen to Jimmy. I have to protect him, no matter what it takes."

Tears welled up in your eyes as you watched Jey turn away from you, his shoulders slumped with defeat as he joined Roman's side, his betrayal cutting you to the core. "Jey, don't do this." you whispered, your voice choked with emotion as you struggled to come to terms with the harsh reality of his choice.

"If you hurt Jimmy, I'll never forgive you," you whispered, your voice barely above a whisper as you turned away Jey, and your eyes were pleading with him to see reason, to stand up against Roman and protect his brother.

"No, Naomi will never forgive you if you continue to defy the Tribal Chief," Roman interjected, his voice cold and menacing as he fixed you with a steely gaze. "And I'll make sure she knows exactly who to blame if anything happens to poor Jimmy."

You clenched your title belt tightly, your knuckles turning white as you fought to hold back tears of frustration and despair. You had never felt so powerless, so alone, so utterly defeated in your entire life.

"You just proved my point. You are the most manipulative and selfish person I have ever known, Roman," you spat, your voice filled with contempt as you glared at him, refusing to let him see the tears that threatened to spill from your eyes. "And if you think that using the person I love against me will make me give in to your demands, then you don't know me at all."

Roman leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable as he watched you with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. "Is that so, Y/N?" he replied, his voice calm and composed despite the tension crackling in the air between you. "Well, I guess we'll just have to see how long you can hold out against me, won't we? Because I'm not going to stop until you drop that title match and come back to the Bloodline where you belong."

He turned to Jey, who was standing by his side, his expression conflicted as he avoided your gaze. "Jey, what do you think? Do you think Y/N will come to her senses and do what's best for the Bloodline, or is she too stubborn and selfish to see reason?"

Jey hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting between you and Roman as he wrestled with his conflicting loyalties. "I don't know, Roman," he replied, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "But I hope she does. For her own sake."

'Please don't make the same mistake I made, I'm begging you.' Jey thought.

Roman's lips curled into a cold smile as he turned back to you, his gaze filled with a predatory gleam. "Well, Y/N, the choice is yours," he said, his voice dripping with malice as he leaned forward, his eyes boring into yours with an intensity that sent a shiver down your spine. "You can either drop the title match and come back to the Bloodline, or you can continue to defy me and suffer the consequences. The clock is ticking, Y/N. Next week there will be a Tribal Meeting, and you make your decision there. Choose wisely."

With those ominous words hanging in the air, Roman stood up from his chair, a smug smirk playing on his lips as he turned away from you, confident in his control over the situation. You watched helplessly as he left the interview area, leaving you alone with your thoughts and the weight of his ultimatum pressing down on you like a suffocating blanket.

You thought Jey would be by your side, that he would stand up against Roman's manipulation and coercion. But as you watched him walk away with Roman, a sense of betrayal and abandonment washed over you, leaving you feeling more alone and vulnerable than ever before.

You'd be lying to yourself if you said there wasn't a part of you that knew that eventually Roman's manipulation would wear down Jey's resistance, but you had hoped that he would have the strength to resist Roman's influence, to stand by your side no matter what. Now, as you watched him walk away with Roman, you couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal and heartbreak wash over you.

But amidst the pain and despair, a spark of defiance ignited within you, a stubborn refusal to bow down to Roman's tyranny, to sacrifice your principles and integrity for the sake of power and control. You knew that dropping the title match would only be the beginning, that Roman would continue to manipulate and coerce you into submission, until you were nothing more than the shell of the person you used to be. And you refused to let that happen.

Jimmy… you had to find jimmy.

You wiped the tears coming from your face as you stood up and walked through the hallway, your steps heavy with determination as you made your way to find Jimmy. You had to find what made Roman tick, and you had to make sure Jimmy was safe, to protect him from whatever danger Roman had threatened him with.

Finally, you found Jimmy about to leave the building, his expression tense and worried as he glanced around nervously. "Jimmy!" you called out, relief flooding through you as you rushed towards him, your heart pounding in your chest. "Where are you going? What's going on?"

Jimmy turned to face you, his eyes widening in surprise as he took in your disheveled appearance, your eyes red and puffy from crying. "Y/N, I can't be seen with you right now," he replied, his voice hushed and urgent as he glanced around nervously. "It's not safe for either of us."

"What do you mean it's not safe?" you demanded, your voice rising with concern as you reached out to grab Jimmy's arm, stopping him from leaving. "What did Roman do? What did he threaten you with?"

Jimmy hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering with uncertainty as he struggled to find the right words. "It's… it's complicated, Y/N," he finally replied, his voice tinged with regret as he met your gaze. "But you need to trust me when I say that you're in danger. Roman's not playing around, and if you don't do what he wants, then…"

His words trailed off, but you didn't need him to finish the sentence. The threat was clear, hanging in the air between you like a dark cloud. Roman would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, to maintain his control over the Bloodline, even if it meant resorting to violence and coercion.

"Naomi's worried sick about me," Jimmy continued, his voice heavy with guilt as he avoided your gaze, unable to meet your eyes. "She's afraid that something's happened to me, that I've gotten caught up in all of this mess between you and Roman. And I can't bear to see her hurting like this, Y/N. I can't bear to see her worrying about me, wondering if I'm safe, if I'm okay."

Tears welled up in your eyes as you listened to Jimmy's words, the weight of his love and concern for Naomi pressing down on you like a heavy burden. You knew that you couldn't let Roman's threats tear apart the people you cared about, couldn't let his manipulation and coercion destroy everything you had fought so hard to build.

"I'm sorry, Jimmy," you whispered, your voice choked with emotion as you reached out to hug him tightly, holding onto him as if your life depended on it. ""I'm sorry that you got caught up in all of this, that you have to suffer because of my feud with Roman. But I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you or Naomi, or to Jey. I'll do whatever it takes to protect everyone, no matter the cost."

At the mention of his twin, Jimmy pulled back from the embrace, his eyes searching yours with a mixture of gratitude and concern. "Y/N, I'm sorry bout Jey," he said, his voice tinged with regret as he met your gaze. "He doesn't mean anything that he's doing, he's just trying to protect us, to keep us safe from whatever Roman has planned. But I know that deep down, he still loves you, still cares about you, still wants what's best for you. Roman said…" Jimmy trailed off, his words catching in his throat as he hesitated, unsure of whether he should reveal Roman's ultimatum to you. But seeing the determination and resolve in your eyes, he knew that he couldn't keep it a secret any longer.

"Roman said that if Jey didn't convince you to drop the title match, then he would hurt me," Jimmy admitted, his voice trembling with fear and uncertainty as he met your gaze, his eyes filled with guilt and shame. "He said that if you didn't comply with his demands, then he would make me pay the price, that he would hurt me to punish Jey for his defiance. That Naomi would get hurt in the process, that I would be the one to blame for everything that happened. And I couldn't let that happen, Y/N. I couldn't let Roman hurt you or Naomi or anyone else because of me."

Your heart clenched at Jimmy's words, the weight of Roman's threats pressing down on you like a suffocating blanket. You couldn't believe that Roman would stoop so low, would resort to using violence and coercion to get what he wanted. But deep down, you knew that there was nothing he wouldn't do to maintain his control over the Bloodline, to keep you under his thumb.

"Jimmy, listen to me." your voice firm and resolute as you met his gaze, your eyes blazing with determination. "This isn't your fault. I won't let any of you get hurt because of me. Go home to Naomi, and tell her that everything will be okay, because everything will be okay. I'll find a way to handle Roman, to protect you both from whatever he has planned. But for now, I need you to trust me, to believe that I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Can you do that for me?"

Jimmys face was conflicted as he listened to your words, torn between his love and concern for you and his fear of Roman's retribution. "I trust you, Y/N," he replied, his voice tinged with uncertainty as he reached out to squeeze your hand tightly, his eyes filled with gratitude and relief. "I trust that you'll find a way to handle Roman, to protect us from whatever he has planned. But please, be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."

You nodded, a sense of determination settling over you as you met Jimmy's gaze, your eyes filled with resolve. "I'll be careful, Jimmy," you promised, your voice steady despite the fear and uncertainty swirling inside you.

A loud clank interrupted your conversation, making Jimmy nervously glance around and realize that at any moment , someone might discover the two of you talking. "I gotta go, Y/N," he said hurriedly, his expression tense with worry as he pulled away from you, his eyes scanning the hallway for any signs of danger. "But please understand that Jey cares about you, that' shy he's doing this, to protect you. He just doesn't know how to handle the situation right now. But I know he'll come around eventually, he just needs time to figure things out."

You nodded, a small smile playing on your lips as you reached out to squeeze Jimmy's hand one last time. "Thank you, Jimmy," you said softly, your voice filled with gratitude and affection. "You're a good man, Jimmy Uso, and don't you ever forget that."

With those final words, you watched as Jimmy disappeared into the crowd, his figure fading into the distance as he made his way towards the exit. And as you stood there alone in the hallway, a sense of determination settled over you, a stubborn refusal to let Roman's threats and manipulation tear apart the people you cared about.

You just wished that Jey could see through Roman's lies and manipulation, that he could find the strength to stand up against him and protect you and his family. But for now, all you could do was wait and hope that he would come to his senses, that he would realize the true cost of betraying you for the sake of Roman's control.

And you knew just what move you needed to play.

"Yo uce, you need to chill out." At Jimmy's words, Jey whipped his head to him and glared at his brother, his frustration and anger bubbling to the surface.

"Chill out? You expect me to chill out when Roman is threatening to hurt you if I don't do what he wants?" Jey exclaimed, his voice laced with disbelief and desperation. "When my girl hates me because she thinks I'm betraying her for the sake of Roman's control?"

Loud music thumped in the background at the party both twins were attending, the bass vibrating through the air as people danced and laughed around them, oblivious to the turmoil brewing between the two brothers. Roman had organized a party that served as a facade, a way to keep up appearances and distract everyone from the tension and conflict within the Bloodline.

Lavish decorations adorned the room, extravagant drinks flowed freely, and the atmosphere was filled with laughter and revelry. Wrestlers and celebrities that the Tribal Chief had invited mingled with the guests, creating a facade of camaraderie and unity that belied the underlying tensions simmering beneath the surface.

"She doesn't hate you, Jey," Jimmy replied, his voice calm and steady as he placed a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "She's just confused and hurt right now. She doesn't understand why you're doing this, why you're letting Roman manipulate you like this. But deep down, she knows that you love her, that you would never intentionally betray her trust."

Jey shook his head, his jaw clenched with frustration as he turned away from his brother, unable to meet his gaze. "It doesn't matter what she knows or doesn't know," he muttered, his voice tinged with bitterness.

He snatched a drink from the nearby table and took a long swig, the alcohol burning his throat as he tried to drown out his feelings of guilt and shame. "What matters is that I'm a fucking pussy that can't stand up to Roman, and she probably thinks I'm spineless for going along with his bullshit."

Jimmy sighed, his expression filled with sympathy as he watched his brother struggle with his inner turmoil. "You're not a pussy, Jey," he said firmly, his voice tinged with frustration. "You're just caught in a difficult situation, one that none of us saw coming. Roman has a way of twisting things, of manipulating people into doing what he wants, and you're just trying to protect us from whatever he has planned."

Jey scoffed, his bitterness and self-loathing bubbling to the surface as he slammed his drink down on the table. "Yeah, well, look how well that's working out for me," he muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I talked to her, and she doesn't hate you," Jimmy continued, ignoring Jey's bitter remark as he pressed on, his voice firm and determined. He watched as Jey downed another drink, his expression clouded with anger and frustration, and he knew that he had to find a way to break through his brother's defenses, to make him see reason before it was too late.

"She's just scared and confused right now, Jey. She doesn't understand why you're letting Roman manipulate you, why you're putting yourself and your relationship with her at risk for the sake of his control. But she still loves you."

Jey's eyes widened at Jimmy's words, a flicker of hope stirring within him as he processed what his brother was saying. "You think she still loves me?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he turned to face Jimmy, his eyes filled with a mixture of hope and desperation.

Jimmy nodded, his expression filled with reassurance as he met Jey's gaze head-on. "Of course she still loves you, Jey," he replied, his voice soft and gentle as he placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "You know, she was crying when she thought you were betraying her. That's not the reaction of someone who doesn't care. And you need to try to secretly talk to her, explain everything, and make things right before it's too late."

Jey's heart clenched at Jimmy's words, the weight of his brother's advice pressing down on him like a heavy burden. He knew that he had to find a way to reach out to you, to explain everything and make things right before Roman's manipulation tore you both apart.

"But how am I supposed to do that, Jimmy?" Jey asked, his voice tinged with frustration and uncertainty. "Roman's watching us like a hawk, and if he finds out that I'm trying to secretly talk to Y/N, he'll make good on his threats to hurt you and Naomi."

Something in the corner caught Jimmy's eye, and he gestured subtly to something behind Jey, taking the cup out of his hand. "Looks like we've got company," he said casually, his voice low as he glanced over Jey's shoulder.

Jey turned around to see Roman approaching them, his expression unreadable as he made his way through the crowd towards them.

"Jey, Jimmy," Roman greeted them, his voice cool and composed as he came to a stop in front of them, his eyes flickering with a dangerous gleam. "Having a good time at the party?"

Jey clenched his jaw, his muscles tensing with frustration as he met Roman's gaze head-on. "What do you want, Roman?" he demanded, his voice laced with hostility. He didn't have the patience for Roman's games, not when his relationship with you hung in the balance.

Roman's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes glinting with amusement as he leaned in closer to Jey, his voice dropping to a low whisper. "I just wanted to make sure that you're still on board with our little arrangement, Jey," he replied, his tone dripping with malice. "Because if you're having second thoughts, then I'm sure Jimmy here wouldn't mind taking your place."

Jey's blood ran cold at Roman's words, his heart pounding in his chest as he realized the true extent of Roman's manipulation and coercion. He glanced at Jimmy, who was watching them with a mixture of apprehension and fear, and he knew that he couldn't let his brother suffer because of his own weakness.

"I'm still in, Roman," Jey replied, his voice firm and resolute despite the fear and uncertainty rippling through him. He couldn't let Roman hurt Jimmy, Naomi, or you, couldn't let his own selfish desires put his family at risk,

Roman's smile widened at Jey's response, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he clapped a hand on Jey's shoulder, his grip firm and commanding. "Good," he said, his voice low and menacing. "I knew I could count on you, Jey. I need you to stick to the plan tonight."

"Tonight?" Jimmy echoed, his brow furrowing with confusion as he glanced between Roman and Jey. "What plan?"

Roman's smirk only widened at Jimmy's question, his eyes gleaming with mischief as he turned to face him, his expression cold and calculating. "Oh, I just invited-"

"Y/N?" Your name fell from Jey's lips like a prayer, his heart sinking as he watched you enter the house, and god did you look beautiful. If you thought Roman was lavish, you were the epitome of elegance and grace, your presence commanding attention as you made your way through the crowd with confidence and poise.

Makeup on point, your dress clinging to your curves in all the right places, your hair styled to perfection. You were a vision, a sight to behold, and Jey couldn't help but feel a surge of longing and desire wash over him as he watched you approach, his heart pounding in his chest with anticipation.

"Y/N," Roman greeted you, his voice smooth and suave as he stepped forward to greet you, his eyes flickering with a dangerous gleam. "So glad you could make it to the party. You look stunning as always."

You nodded politely in response, your gaze flickering over Roman's shoulder to meet Jey's eyes, and the tension crackling in the air between you was palpable.

There was so much left unsaid between you, so many unresolved feelings and emotions swirling beneath the surface, and Jey couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt and regret as he met your gaze, his heart aching with the knowledge that he was the reason for the pain on your face.

"I'm glad you invited me. I almost thought you had forgotten about me," you replied, your voice cool and composed despite the turmoil swirling inside you. You forced a smile onto your lips, refusing to let Roman see how much his presence affected you, how much his manipulation and coercion had torn you apart. "But it seems like I'm just in time for the party."

Roman smiled at you, his teeth glinting in the dim light as he gestured towards the crowd of guests milling around them. "Of course not, Y/N," he replied smoothly, his voice dripping with charm and charisma. "I figured tonight I could show you what true family looks like, how we celebrate our victories together, as one cohesive unit. And what better way to do that than with a party, right?"

You raised an eyebrow at Roman's words, the sarcasm evident in your tone as you glanced around the room, taking in the extravagant decorations and lavish spread of food and drinks. "Ah yes, because nothing says 'family' like a room full of people you've threatened and manipulated into doing your bidding," you remarked dryly, your voice laced with contempt.

Roman's smile faltered slightly at your words, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features before he quickly masked it with a facade of indifference. "Come on, Y/N," he said, his tone light and casual as he tried to lead you to a quieter corner of the room, away from prying eyes and listening ears. "Let's not ruin the party with talk of business and politics. Tonight is about celebration, about unity, about family."

But you didn't let him pull you away from the main gathering, keeping your feet planted firmly in place as you met Roman's gaze head-on, your eyes blazing with defiance.

"You're right, let's not ruin this party. I brought a plus one, by the way," you interrupted, your voice firm and resolute as you gestured towards Jey, who was watching the exchange with a mixture of apprehension and concern, the tension between the two of you thick enough to cut with a knife. "I hope you don't mind, but I thought it would be nice for him to see what true family looks like, to experience the unity and celebration that you speak of."

You turned back to Roman with a look in your eye that meant you were planning something he couldn't anticipate, a sense of determination burning brightly within you as you stood your ground against him.

Roman's smile faltered at your words. "Of course not, Y/N," he replied smoothly, his voice tinged with annoyance as he turned back to face you, his expression carefully neutral. "Everyone is welcome at the party, especially family."

"Good." You nodded in response, a satisfied smirk playing on your lips as you watched Roman struggle to maintain his composure in the face of your defiance. You turned towards the door, and when you saw him, a smile lit up on your face. "Cause he's here right now."

"He?!" Jey whispered under his breath at the mention of another guy, his curiosity piqued as he glanced around the room, trying to spot the person you were referring to. His heart skipped a beat when he saw who it was, his eyes widening in surprise and disbelief as he took in their presence, standing at the entrance of the room with a confident smirk on their face.

"Seth!" You exclaimed, your voice filled with excitement and surprise as you rushed over to greet him, your steps quickening with anticipation. Jey's heart sank at the sight of Seth Rollins, his worst nightmare come to life as he watched you approach the man with a smile on your face, completely unaware of the turmoil raging inside him.

"Seth!" you called out again, your voice echoing through the room as you reached his side, your eyes bright with excitement as you wrapped your arms around him in a tight embrace. "I can't believe you made it to the party! It's been too long since we last saw each other."

Roman's expression turned angry at the sight of one of his biggest enemies, the man who stabbed him in the back and betrayed him numerous times in the past. "What is he doing here?" he growled, his voice low and menacing as he watched you and Seth interact with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "I thought I made it clear that he's not welcome in our family."

But you ignored Roman's question, too caught up in the excitement of seeing Seth after so long. "I missed you, Seth," you said, your voice filled with genuine affection as you pulled back from the embrace, a wide smile on your lips. "I'm glad you could make it to the party. You have no idea how much I needed a familiar face tonight."

Seth returned your smile, his eyes sparkling with amusement as he glanced around the room, taking in the extravagant decorations and lively atmosphere. "Well, I couldn't pass up the chance to see my favorite person," he replied, his voice smooth and charming as he flashed you a playful grin. "Plus, I heard there was going to be free drinks and good company, so how could I resist?"

"You could resist because you weren't invited." Roman's voice cut through the conversation like a knife, his tone cold and menacing as he stepped forward to confront Seth, his eyes flashing with anger and hostility. "So you could leave right now and take your ugly outfit with you"

Seth's smirk widened at Roman's words, his expression unbothered as he met Roman's gaze head-on. "Ah, but where's the fun in that, Roman?" he replied casually, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "I thought we were past all the animosity and hostility, that we could bury the hatchet and move on from our past grievances. After all, isn't that what brothers do, right? They forgive and forget, right?"

Roman's jaw clenched with anger at Seth's words, his fists tightening at his sides as he struggled to maintain his composure in the face of Seth's provocation, but before he could advance, you stepped forward, placing yourself between Roman and Seth, your eyes blazing with determination as you met Roman's gaze head-on.

"Let's not ruin the party with talk of business and politics. Tonight is about celebration, about unity, about family." You threw Roman's words back in his face, your voice firm and resolute as you stared him down, a manipulative smirk on your lips.

"Everyone is looking at you, Roman. Everyone is watching to see how you handle this situation, how you react to Seth's presence. And if you make a scene, if you let your anger and hostility get the best of you, then what does that say about you as a leader, as a Tribal Chief? What does that say about your control over the Bloodline, your ability to keep your family in line?"

Roman's expression hardened at your words, his gaze narrowing as he took a step closer to you, his anger simmering just beneath the surface. "Fine. Make yourself at home, traitor."

Seth's smirk only widened at Roman's threat, his eyes gleaming with mischief as he met Roman's gaze head-on, unafraid of the Tribal Chief's anger and hostility. "You know, Roman, for someone who claims to be all about family and unity, you sure do have a funny way of showing it," he replied casually, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "But hey, who am I to judge? After all, I'm just a guest at your little party."

With that, Seth turned away from Roman, his attention shifting back to you as he flashed you a charming grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "So, Y/N, how about we grab a drink and catch up? I'm sure there's a lot we have to talk about."

You returned Seth's grin with a smile of your own, your heart pounding in your chest with excitement and anticipation. "I'd love that, Seth," you replied, your voice filled with genuine affection as you linked your arm with his, allowing him to lead you away from the tense confrontation with Roman. "Let's go find a quiet corner and chat."

You passed by Jey, your eyes locking with his for a moment, and you could see the turmoil and conflict raging inside him, and wished that he was the one you were walking away with, that he was the one you were sharing this moment of reunion and companionship with.

But you knew that right now, he was still caught up in Roman's web of manipulation and coercion, unable to break free from the hold that his cousin had over him. And until he found the strength to stand up against Roman and choose you over his loyalty to the Bloodline, you had to focus on your plan and bringing him to you yourself instead of allowing Roman to continue controlling him.

"You're a really good actress." Seth commented as he led you away from the tense confrontation with Roman, his voice low and conspiratorial as he glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Roman wasn't following you. "I almost believed that you were glad to see me."

You chuckled softly at Seth's words, the tension slowly melting away as you allowed yourself to relax in his presence, grateful for the distraction from the chaos and conflict swirling around you. How did you and Seth get aquatinted, you might ask? Becky Lynch is the answer to that.

When Roman said you had no allies, something inside of you snapped, and you realized that instead of being a bitch and pushing away any allies in the women's locker room in favor of opportunities, you could actually start forming connections and alliances that could help you in the long run so you could forge your own path to success.

"I know you don't like me." You bluntly told her as you walked into the locker room, your tone firm and resolute as you met Becky's gaze head-on. "And honestly, I don't blame you. I've been a real bitch in the past, but if you want to get a head start in the line for my title, I would start listening to me right now."

Becky raised an eyebrow at your boldness, her expression unreadable as she studied you for a moment before responding. "You're right, I don't like you," she admitted bluntly, her voice tinged with skepticism. "But I can respect someone who knows what they want and isn't afraid to go after it. So, what's the catch? Why are you suddenly willing to play nice?"

You shrugged nonchalantly, a coy smile playing on your lips as you leaned against the locker next to hers, your eyes gleaming with mischief. "I'll give you a title shot."

Becky's eyebrows shot up in surprise at your offer, her skepticism giving way to curiosity as she considered your proposition. "A title shot, huh?" she echoed, her voice laced with intrigue. "And what's in it for you? Why would you be willing to give me a title shot out of the blue?"

You smirked at Becky's question, your mind already spinning with possibilities as you considered the potential benefits of forming an alliance with her.

"Because I need to get into Roman's head, and considering Seth is your husband, I figured you could help me with that." You replied casually, your voice filled with confidence as you met Becky's gaze head-on. "I need him to hang out with me when my plan starts, and I want your permission since he's your man, and I know how I'd feel if a random women started spending time with my husband without my knowledge or consent."

Becky regarded you with a mixture of skepticism and amusement, her lips curling into a wry smile as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're not as dumb as you look," she remarked, her tone teasing as she gave you a once-over. "But why should I trust you? What's to stop you from double-crossing me and using Seth against me?"

You held Becky's gaze steadily, your expression serious as you made your intentions clear. "Because I'm not interested in playing games, Becky," you replied firmly, your voice tinged with sincerity. "I need your help, and I'm willing to offer you something in return. If you agree to work with me, to help me get inside Roman's head and figure out his plans, then I'll give you a fair shot at my title. No strings attached, no hidden agendas. Just a mutually beneficial arrangement between two women who have a common enemy."

Becky studied you for a moment, her gaze searching yours for any sign of deception or ulterior motives. Finally, she nodded in agreement, a small smile playing on her lips as she extended her hand towards you. "Alright, you've got yourself a deal," she said, her voice filled with determination.

And that is what brought you to where you were now, Seth's arm around your shoulder (platonically, but Jey didn't know that) as e led you away from the tense confrontation with Roman, his voice low and conspiratorial as you chuckled softly at his comment.

"Thanks, Seth," you replied, your voice filled with genuine appreciation as you leaned into his side, allowing yourself to relax in his presence. "You aren't too bad yourself."

Seth chuckled softly at your response, his arm tightening around your shoulder as he led you to get drinks, the lights of the party casting a soft glow over the room as the music thumped in the background.

"Well, I aim to please," he replied, his tone playful as he glanced down at you with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Becky told me that she made a deal with you to get a title shot in exchange for helping you with Roman. That's some pretty impressive maneuvering, Y/N. Looks like you're not as helpless as Roman thinks you are."

You smirked at Seth's words, a sense of satisfaction swelling within you as you realized just how far you had come since you first entered the wrestling world. "Your wife is pretty smart herself," you replied, your voice tinged with amusement. "And she knows a good opportunity when she sees one. You picked a good one, Seth. You're lucky to have her."

Seth chuckled softly at your words, his gaze warm and affectionate as he met your eyes. "Yeah, I know," he replied, his voice tinged with pride. "I'm a lucky guy. But enough about us. Let's focus on you and Roman. What's your plan?"

You glanced around the room, making sure that no one was eavesdropping on your conversation before leaning in closer to Seth, your voice low and conspiratorial as you filled him in on your plan to take down Roman. When you finished outlining your strategy, Seth nodded in approval, a confident smile on his lips as he squeezed your shoulder reassuringly.

"That's a solid plan, Y/N," Seth remarked, his voice filled with admiration. "You've really thought this through. I'm impressed."

"I know." You quipped, grabbing a fruity drink from a passing waiter's tray and taking a sip, the sweet taste of the cocktail washing away the lingering tension from your confrontation with Roman. Seth giggled at your confident response, his laughter mingling with the music as he took a drink of his own. "Well, I'm glad I could be of assistance," he said, his tone light and playful as he gestured towards the dance floor. "But enough about business. Let's have some fun and enjoy the party. What do you say?"

You grinned at Seth's suggestion, feeling a sense of relief wash over you as you allowed yourself to let go of the stress and tension of the evening. "I say let's dance," you replied, your voice filled with excitement as you linked arms with Seth, allowing him to lead you onto the dance floor.

You wrapped your arms around Seth's neck, moving in sync with the music as you danced together, the rhythm of the music pulsing through your veins as you lost yourself in the moment. The tension and conflict of the evening faded into the background as you allowed yourself to simply enjoy the company of your friend, the music drowning out the noise of the party as you moved together in perfect harmony.

3, 2, 1- You counted down, knowing what would happen when Seth's hands wrapped around your waist.

"I'll be gone, remember the plan." You whispered to Seth right as a hand grabbed your arm and started pulling you away from Seth, interrupting your dance mid-motion. You turned to see Jey struggling to maintain his composure, his expression a mixture of anger and frustration as he pulled you away from Seth, his grip tight on your arm, dragging you upstairs.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Jey growled out as he brought you upstairs and slammed open a door, dragging you inside before slamming it shut behind him, his chest heaving with anger and frustration.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were given permission to talk to me." You retorted sarcastically, pulling your arm out of Jey's grasp and trying to get to the door, but Jey blocking your path with his body, his eyes blazing with intensity as he glared at you. Damn, he looked good in his fitted suit, his muscles tense with pent-up aggression as he loomed over you, his presence dominating the small room.

"Don't play games with me, Y/N," Jey snapped, his voice low and dangerous as he took a step closer to you, his eyes flashing with anger. "I saw you out there with Seth, flirting and laughing like you didn't have a care in the world. Do you have any idea how that made me feel, seeing you with another guy?"

You rolled your eyes at Jey's accusation, your frustration boiling over as you met his gaze head-on, refusing to back down in the face of his anger. "I was not flirting with him. And now you know how I felt when you betrayed me for Roman," you shot back, your voice laced with bitterness as you pushed past Jey, making another attempt to leave the room.

But Jey was quicker this time, his hand shooting out to grab your wrist and pull you back towards him, his grip tight and unyielding as he glared down at you with intensity.

"Don't you dare try to turn this around on me, Y/N," Jey growled, his voice low and menacing as he forced you to look up at him, his eyes burning with anger and frustration. "I did what I had to do to protect you and Naomi, to keep us safe from Roman's threats. I didn't have a choice."

You scoffed at Jey's words, your frustration boiling over. "I know, and that's what makes it worse."

Jey stopped in his tracks, his grip on your wrist loosening slightly as he stared at you in disbelief, his expression softening with confusion and uncertainty. "What?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he searched your face for any sign of deception or manipulation.

You sighed, your anger and frustration giving way to a sense of sadness and resignation as you met Jey's gaze head-on, your eyes filled with vulnerability. "I mean that I understand why you did what you did, Jey," you replied softly, your voice tinged with sadness. "I understand that you were trying to protect your family, that you were put in an impossible situation with Roman's threats hanging over your head. But that doesn't change the fact that you chose to betray me, to side with Roman over our relationship. And seeing you with Roman, seeing you go along with his manipulation and coercion, it hurt. It hurt more than you'll ever know."

You willed yourself not to cry, biting your lip to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over as you laid bare your heartache and disappointment, your words hanging heavy in the air between you as you waited for Jey's response. "And maybe I used Seth to make you jealous cause I knew there was no way you would talk to me without some kind of push."

Jey stared at you in stunned silence, his heart sinking at the pain and sadness evident in your eyes, his own guilt and regret weighing heavily on his shoulders. He had known that his decision to side with Roman would hurt you, but he hadn't realized just how deeply his actions had affected you, how much he had damaged your trust and faith in him.

"Baby, I…" Jey paused, his voice choked with emotion as he struggled to find the right words to express his remorse and regret.

"Do you know how I feel seeing you with another guy?" he finally continued, his voice raw with emotion as he reached out to gently cup your face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away the tears that had escaped down your cheeks. "It tears me apart, Y/N. It makes me feel like the biggest piece of shit in the world, knowing that I'm the reason you're hurting, that I'm the reason you're crying. I never wanted to hurt you, baby. I never wanted any of this to happen."

Against your better judgement, you leaned into Jey's touch, the warmth of his hands comforting as you allowed yourself to be vulnerable with him, to let him see the pain and sadness that had been weighing on your heart. "I know you didn't, Jey," you whispered, your voice barely above a whisper as you gazed up at him with tear-filled eyes. "But that doesn't change the fact that it did happen. It doesn't change the fact you hurt me, Jey. And I don't know if I can just forget about it and move on like nothing happened."

Jey's heart clenched at your words, his own tears threatening to spill over as he realized the extent of the damage he had caused, the irreparable rift he had created between you. "I ain't have a choice, Y/N," he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion as he searched your eyes for any sign of forgiveness or understanding. "I had to protect my family, had to keep you safe from Roman's threats. I couldn't risk losing you, losing Naomi. I know I fucked up, baby, but please… please don't give up on us. I'll do whatever it takes to make things right, to earn back your trust. Just give me a chance."

You sighed, torn between the love you still felt for Jey and the pain of his betrayal, the conflict raging inside you as you struggled to make sense of your feelings. He leaned his forehead against yours, his cologne deliciously scenting the air around you as the tension between you turned into sexual tension. Your heart raced as you felt the heat of his body so close to yours, his breath mingling with yours as you gazed into his eyes, seeing the raw vulnerability and desperation reflected in their depths.

"Jey…" you whispered, your voice barely audible above the pounding of your heart as you reached up to brush your fingers against his cheek, feeling the rough stubble beneath your touch. "You hurt me."

"Then let me make it up to you." He pleaded, his voice husky with desire as he leaned in closer, his lips hovering just inches from yours, the tension between you crackling with electricity. "Let me show you how much I love you, how much I regret hurting you. Give me a chance to prove myself to you, to earn back your trust and your love."

You hesitated for a moment, the conflicting emotions swirling inside you as you struggled to make sense of your feelings. But in the end, your love for Jey won out, the bond between you too strong to ignore. With a soft sigh, you closed the gap between you, your lips meeting his in a passionate kiss that spoke volumes of the love and longing you still felt for him.

Jey's arms wrapped around you, pulling you close as he deepened the kiss, his lips moving against yours with a desperate intensity that left you breathless. It felt like coming home, like all the pain and heartache of the past few weeks melted away, and in that moment, there was only you and Jey, lost in each other's embrace, trying to mend the shattered pieces of your relationship.

You slip your tongue into his mouth and brought your hand to his hair, pulling him closer as the kiss grew more passionate, the heat between you igniting a fire that burned brighter with each passing moment.

Jey responded eagerly, his hands roaming over your body as he grabbed you by the waist and hoisted you onto the nearby bed, the kiss deepening as he hovered over you, his body pressed against yours in a heated embrace. The air crackled with electricity as your hands roamed over each other's bodies, exploring every inch with a desperate hunger born from weeks of longing and pent-up desire.

"Take off your suit." You whispered, your voice husky with desire as you reached up to unbutton Jey's shirt, your fingers trembling with anticipation.

Jey complied eagerly, his hands fumbling with the buttons as he stripped off his shirt, revealing the sculpted muscles beneath, his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath. You ran your hands over his bare skin, feeling the heat of his body beneath your touch as you trailed kisses along his jawline, savoring the taste of him on your lips.

"I missed you," you murmured against his skin, your voice soft and filled with longing as you pressed your body closer to his, reveling in the sensation of his warmth enveloping you. "I missed this."

Jey's hands roamed over your body, his touch igniting a fire within you as he trailed kisses along your neck, his lips moving with a fervent intensity that sent shivers down your spine. "I missed you too, baby," he whispered, his voice husky with desire as he trailed kisses down your chest, his hands deftly unzipping the back of your dress and sliding it off your shoulders, revealing the lingerie underneath.

You watched him with hungry eyes, the desire burning brightly within you as he worshipped your body with his hands and lips, each touch sending waves of pleasure coursing through you.

You tried to focus on his body, on his soft lips against yours, on how good his hands felt as they explored every inch of your skin, but a thump in the background grew louder and more persistent, but you tried to ignore it until you heard a loud crash outside the room, followed by raised voices and the sound of scuffling. You and Jey froze, the passion of the moment shattered as you exchanged worried glances.

"What the hell was that?" Jey muttered, his voice tense with apprehension as he pulled away from you, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of danger.

"It was Seth." You looked up at Jey, your eyes widening with concern. The plan was going well, but you knew Jey wouldn't like the idea of Seth being involved in your scheme against Roman. "He got into a fight with Roman downstairs. It was my plan." You quickly zipped up your dress as Jey helped you with your dress before you helped him with his suit.

"Go the fuck to hell!" You heard Roman's booming voice from downstairs, followed by the sound of a scuffle and a loud crash. Jey's eyes widened in shock and concern as he processed your words, his mind racing with a mixture of fear and adrenaline.

"Let's go." Jey said urgently, his voice tense with apprehension as he grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the door, his muscles tense with pent-up aggression as he prepared to confront whatever chaos awaited them downstairs.

You nodded in agreement, your heart pounding in your chest as you followed Jey out of the room and down the stairs, the sounds of the commotion growing louder with each step. When you reached the main hall, you saw Roman and Seth locked in a fierce struggle, their fists flying as they traded blows with ferocious intensity. The room was in chaos, guests scattering in all directions as they tried to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"You're the weakest link in your own group, and that's why Y/N is smart enough to bring me here." Seth taunted Roman as he dodged a punch and delivered one of his own, his voice filled with confidence and defiance as he faced off against the Tribal Chief. "You think you can control everyone around you, but you're just a puppet master pulling the strings of your own downfall."

Roman growled in frustration, lunging at Seth and punching him square in the jaw, sending him stumbling backwards. "I'm the Tribal Chief!" Roman roared, and Jey and Jimmy grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back before he could do any more damage to Seth. "And I'll be damned if I let some backstabbing snake like you undermine my authority."

"You wanna talk about backstabbing?" Seth cackled at Roman's words, wiping the blood from his split lip as he regained his footing, his eyes flashing with defiance. "You are nothing but a traitor, Roman. You turned your back on your own family, on your own blood, all for the sake of power and control. You think you're untouchable, that you can manipulate and coerce everyone around you into doing your bidding. But you're wrong. You're not as powerful as you think you are, Roman. And sooner or later, your reign of terror will come to an end."

Roman's eyes blazed with anger and hurt at Seth's words, but security intervened before the situation could escalate any further, separating Roman and Seth and ushering Seth out of the house.

"You." Roman turned to you, his eyes narrowing with fury as he advanced towards you, his fists clenched at his sides. "You set me up, didn't you? You brought Seth here to provoke me, to try and undermine my authority. You know what he did to me, and you still brought him here to hurt me."

"Just like you hurt me by using Jey against me?" You shot back, your voice cold and composed despite the turmoil swirling inside you. "How does that sinking feeling you get in your stomach feel, Roman? How does it feel to know that the people you thought you could control are starting to see you for the manipulative, power-hungry tyrant that you really are?"

"Jey hates your guts, Roman. He's only here because he wants to protect me from you." You continued, your voice dripping with contempt as you stood your ground against Roman, refusing to let him intimidate you.

"Oh please, what are you talking about…" Roman trailed off when he noticed that your hair was tangled, your dress was wrinkled, and when he turned to Jey, his hair disheveled and that guilty look in his eyes, the pieces of the puzzle clicking into place as he realized what had transpired while he was preoccupied with Seth.

"You two…" Roman's voice trailed off, the anger and hurt evident in his eyes as he looked between you and Jey, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. "You distracted Jey so that Seth could provoke me and make me look like a fool." Roman's voice was low and dangerous, his gaze flickering with anger and betrayal as he turned his attention back to you, his expression cold and unforgiving.

"I did no such thing," you replied calmly, meeting Roman's gaze with steely resolve. "But if you want to believe that, go ahead. It doesn't change the fact that your grip on the Bloodline is slipping, Roman. You can't control everything and everyone around you forever. Sooner or later, your reign will come to an end."

You felt everyones eyes on you as the party came to an abrupt end, guests murmuring amongst themselves as they filed out, leaving you, Jey, and Jimmy alone in the empty hall. "You should clean yourself up, Roman," you continued, your voice dripping with disdain as you turned on your heel and started to walk away, Jey following closely behind you. "You have a lot of work to do if you want to salvage what's left of your reputation."

You wanted to hurt Roman like he hurt you, and you knew that the best way to do that was to hit him where it hurt the most - his pride and his reputation. You had planted the seeds of doubt in his mind, sowing discord and chaos within the Bloodline, and now it was only a matter of time before those seeds grew into something much bigger and more destructive.

"Oh, and you don't have to wait till next week to know my decision about our match, I'm not dropping out. And if you hurt Jimmy, you'll face Seth instead of me, and we both know you don't want to face him." With that final warning, you turned to Jey and blew him a kiss before heading out of the door, leaving Roman seething with anger and frustration in your wake.

Your plan worked out perfectly.

1- You made Roman look like a fool in front of his guests, undermining his authority and sowing discord within the Bloodline.

2- You showed Jey that he couldn't ignore his feelings for you any longer, pushing him to confront the truth about his loyalty to Roman and his own desires.

3- Roman couldn't use Jimmy against Jey anymore, knowing you are willing to bring Seth into the mix if he tries to hurt his cousin, and now Roman couldn't guilt you into staying with him by threatening Jimmy.

Maybe you were a monster. But you didn't care, because sometimes you had to become a deamon to stop the monsters around you.

Cause Jey was worth losing yourself for.

[bestworstcase]

"There is no victory in strength."

"And Yang was strength."

I wonder if this is some "subtle" foreshadowing for something later?

oh i have some THOUGHTS about this

first: see this post regarding salem's V1 monologue. the key point to keep in mind for this discussion is that she begins by naming several qualities of mankind—strength, wisdom, resourcefulness, passion, and ingenuity—so her concluding statement implies its own inverse: 

"mankind was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world […] in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds […] but take heed: there will be no victory in strength," i.e. "victory lies in these other four qualities." 

so what does this have to do with yang?

in V2: yang gets slapped by the paladin prototype, and when blake calls out to her in a panic, ruby stops her: "don't worry! with each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back. that's what makes her special."

in V3: after her disqualification from the tournament, qrow passes on raven's message to yang ("she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again") after she tells him she saw her mom ("i- i was in a lot of trouble, took a pretty hard hit"), then follows up with "you're a tough egg, kiddo; shouldn't let this tournament thing get you down."

in V4: tai tells yang that she, like raven, "act[s] like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it: that strength is all that matters in a fight," which he implies is the fatal flaw of raven's that "tore our team apart and […] did a real number on our family," even though "raven was great in so many ways: her strength, her ambition, her dedication." 

in V5: blake describes yang to sun as "[the embodiment of] strength."

also in V5: yang confronts raven in the vault under haven academy and, when raven calls herself strong, snaps back: "oh, shut up! you don't know the first thing about strength! you turn your back on people, you run away when things get hard, you put others in harms way instead of yourself! you might be powerful, but you're not strong."

in V6: blake reassures yang by telling her "adam's strong, but his real power comes from control."

also in V6: adam taunts yang: "moment of truth, yang! do you think you're faster than you were at beacon? …heh. me neither," and after catching his weapon she retorts, "i may not be faster, but i'm smarter." (<- put a pin in this one, it's important.)

in V8: yang falls, blake fails to catch her, and it's the hit she can't come back from—it doesn't make her stronger, it just plunges her into the void to her apparent death.

in V9: when they catch up with yang, she's performing strength ("i said i wasn't done with you yet!") but in reality she's exhausted, barely able to stand. later, blake describes her like this: "you're an extraordinary person. you're always the first to lighten a situation; you act bravely when you're afraid; you do what you say."

ok. 

there are a few threads to unwind here.

first let's unpin what adam says to yang during their final duel: "do you think you're faster than you were at beacon?" not "stronger." not "tougher." faster.

ruby tells blake that strength is what makes yang special. qrow tells yang she's too tough to let one "slip-up" bring her down. her father thinks she relies too much on her strength. before their reunion, blake sees yang as the living personification of strength.

but just as a younger blake was wrong about adam being "justice" or "passion," she's wrong about yang being "strength," and adam is actually—ironically enough—the first character besides yang herself to notice that strength is not what yang is about. he taunts her for not being fast enough. 

speed. agility. not just in the sense that yang is a very nimble combatant, but she's emotionally agile—look at how she handles herself and her feelings during fraught confrontations with blake in V2 or raven in V5. she's a self-described thrill-seeker, but she also worries about being too rootless. her biggest setbacks all come from rushing—and her big wins all come from outmaneuvering her opponents, whether physically or emotionally. she's strong, but strength is not what she is.

keeping that in mind, the second thread to follow is the difference between strength and power. yang tells raven "you might be powerful, but you're not strong." blake tells yang that adam is "strong, but his real power comes from control," from getting into people's heads and making them feel small. when ruby and tai and blake talk about yang's strength (and when blake talks about adam being strong), they mean raw physical strength—but that's not what yang means when she talks about strength. in yang's terms, raw physical strength is just power. her semblance makes her powerful; it doesn't make her strong. 

yang defines strength as the choice to put others ahead of oneself, even and especially when it's hard. 

in the ever after, blake says that yang uplifts others (always the first to lighten a situation), that she's brave, that she has integrity. between V5 and V9, after reconciling with yang and going through the harrowing experience of of fighting adam with her, blake sees the vulnerability behind the brave mask yang puts on for her loved ones. her perception of yang at beacon was colored both by her adam trauma and by the way ruby saw yang as invulnerable, unshakable. since then she's come to see yang as she truly is: caring, brave, and honest. she sees and loves the kind of strength that yang values.

third thread: the really crucial piece is what kind of strength is salem referring to? 

and the answer is that she's talking about power, explicitly in contrast to what she sees as humanity's true strengths: wisdom, resourcefulness, passion, ingenuity, and hope. in V1, salem credits hope as the reason mankind was not wiped out (again) by the grimm and names "passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity" as the qualities that allowed them to find a way to survive against the odds. then, "nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life."

in this story salem tells about the beginning of the world, strength is one of the fruits of mankind's triumph, something that could only develop after the darkness had been beaten and pushed back. when she gives her warning—"there will be no victory in strength"—she names "your guardians" and "your monuments" explicitly. 

to be precise, she is talking about the maidens ("a guardian is a symbol of comfort"), amity coliseum("it was decided that the tournament would need a stage equal in greatness to that of its competitors. amity coliseum was the culmination of four kingdom's efforts: a technological marvel and a shining symbol of harmony, capable of making the journey to all the kingdoms of remnant"—but note that menagerie is excluded from the vytal festival), and atlas ("the people of mantle needed a sign of a brighter future, and that sign was atlas; a city in the clouds is as bright as it gets").

those things represent ozpin's definition of strength: technological marvels, shining symbols of harmony and comfort, a girl who is "strong, caring, and intelligent" enough to make the people feel safe. and of course outside of these soliloquies, the word salem uses is power—and she warns cinder, twice, in no uncertain terms that power will not make her strong: "it is because of the maiden's power. […] your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness" and "you will have the power i promised you, but remember that it comes with a cost."

now back to yang: she and salem share this mindset, this clear delineation between true strength and mere power. salem tries to impress it upon cinder; yang's power blinds her family to her true strength, which blake learns to see clearly as they become partners, and she is placed in juxtaposition with adam, raven, and cinder—all of whom are powerful but not strong. 

and, like salem, the way yang is perceived (that her power is what makes her special, and she thinks physical strength is all that matters in a fight) does not align with how yang sees herself or what she values: yang takes pride in being able to face her fears, speak the truth, put others before herself, and outwit her foes; she likes that blake has never been intimidated by her, and she admires blake's dedication and willingness to forgive. 

salem values wisdom, i.e. experiential knowledge—yang tells her past self that her losses and failures "more than anything are what have shaped me into who i am, showed me how i need to grow." salem values passion—yang is passionate in everything she does and likewise admires the passion she sees in blake. "you know what matters to you." salem values resourcefulness and ingenuity—yang revels in outsmarting people who underestimate her, as they often do, and flat out tells adam that she may not be faster than him, but she is smarter, then throws his weapon to bait him into running right into blake's punch.

yang values courage—salem fomented rebellion against the fucking gods and vowed to keep fighting even after they crushed her like an ant, and rewards cinder for defying her, and disdains lionheart for being a coward. yang values honesty—salem explodes when people lie to her and loathes ozma for his deceit. yang values compassion—salem built her whole rebellion on the premise that no one else should have to suffer as she did. yang values cleverness—salem cultivates spies and meticulously prepares to stack the deck in her favor before making a move.

"the ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest asset," says salem. "even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change."

"look, blind optimism isn't great, but no optimism means we've already lost; we need hope. we need to take risks," says yang. 

aside from blake, all of team rwby repeat salem in some way: weiss is the girl who frees herself from her tower, ruby the idealist who sees how broken the world is and takes it upon herself to fix it, inspiring the world to strive with her. (blake repeats ozma: the warrior who fights for justice, but her journey is the inverse of his: her ideals are corrupted by adam's spite in the beginning and she leaves him behind in pursuit of true justice.) but yang is salem's heart. 

(<- the reversal in how blake sees yang before/after they reunite at haven and defeat adam together is a fractal-ozlem thing, by the way: the inflection point occurs in 6.5 when yang opens up about her flashbacks and blake sees her hands shaking. the maiden's tears restore her prince's sight—yang allows blake to see how scared she is, and blake recognizes how badly yang needs blake to be there for her, to stay.)

WHICH IS HYSTERICAL BECAUSE,

"all this endless death, because something bad happened to you once upon a time? no one gets a fairytale ending! everything i've lost, every person i've lost, is because of you!"

yang is being deliberately provocative here. her intention is to redirect salem's boiling fury from oscar to herself, to protect oscar. she is trying to piss salem off, and while she succeeds in distracting salem from oscar, she completely fails to make salem angry—instead, salem calms down.

why?

the anger and scorn yang throws in salem's face here are completely genuine, but as i said before, yang's emotional agility—her control over her emotions—is unparalleled. she does not "lose her temper" (and on the rare occasion she snaps without meaning to, she reins it in lightning fast). she lets it out. so in this scene, yang makes a calculated choice to yell at salem. to get angry.

now, we've seen her do this once before—and by "this" i mean specifically the choice to get mad enough to verbally explode at somebody—and that was during her last confrontation with raven. 

"oh, shut up! you don't know the first thing about strength! you turn your back on people, you run away when things get hard, you put others in harm's way instead of yourself! you might be powerful, but you're not strong."

i think yang is not quite as in control of her feelings in this scene with raven, because the wounds are very personal and very raw, but nevertheless she is making a deliberate choice to let her anger come out because—again—she's trying to make raven mad. if raven decides she's leaving with the lamp, yang can't actually stop her. she knows that. she also knows raven isn't going to listen to an appeal to join them, so her only real option is to upset raven enough to make her abandon the lamp (and yang) (…again). 

so that's what she does! yang asks questions and needles raven on her answers until raven starts to react emotionally ("i survived because i'm strong enough to do what others won't!"), and yang pounces on that. shut up, you don't know the first thing about strength. she goes right for the throat, attacks the thing at the center of all raven's rationalizations. and raven fucking shatters.

this is what yang tries to do to salem. "why do you keep coming back?" -> "why do YOU!?"—raven says "i'm strong," yang goes "shut up, that's bullshit, no you're not." salem says "why do you keep coming back," yang hears salem playing the victim and goes "shut up, that's bullshit, your suffering isn't special" because she guesses—based on what she's been told about salem, and what she just heard salem say to ozma—that salem has built her sense of self around victimhood in the same way that raven built hers around "being strong."

only. it doesn't work this time.

because salem is just like yang.

just like yang, salem prizes courage and conviction and abhors liars. she makes the same distinction between genuine strength and mere power, and values power not at all. 

she also, just like yang, keeps her anger firmly in check. when salem yells and slams her hands down or flips a table to intimidate someone, or threatens cinder with the hound, or tortured oscar, that is a choice she is making to let her anger out. the one time salem actually loses her temper, she sends everyone else out of the room, waits for the door to close, makes what appears to be a herculean effort to hold it in (<- the air boils), and then explodes all the windows.

this tactic of yang's depends on her opponent not having her level of emotional control. but that isn't the only reason she completely fails to get a rise out of salem; look at salem's reaction:

<- "why do you keep coming back?"—this is genuine fury. teeth bared, crushing oscar's head with her nails digging in behind his ears.

<- "because something bad happened to you once upon a time?"—she's nonplussed. it's not even that salem's too in control of her anger for yang to provoke her, salem is legitimately thrown for a loop by this line of attack. yang misses the mark by such a wide margin that it knocks salem out of her anger altogether. she was seething about ozma sacrificing children for the god to whom he debases himself in blind obedience, why is this child yelling about fairytales. what.

it's telling, i think, that salem does not, in any way, dispute the premise that her own suffering does not justify the suffering she causes or that she is personally responsible for yang's losses. neither of those ideas challenge or threaten salem's self-identity, and in fact the only response she does make is to ask who she took from yang. (<- implicitly conceding that she is responsible for ruining yang's life, or at least that she might be.) 

she and yang are Very Alike.

(this is also why yang has such pronounced paralleling with cinder. by the way. two halves of salem's psyche. fire as hope, fire as wrath.)

anyway

the point of yang vis-a-vis "there will be no victory in strength" is to clarify and articulate the distinction salem makes between power (which neither character values) and strength (which they do, and define as the sum of many virtues). both of them are positioned in counterpoint to ozpin, who trusted only in power and symbols of power (the maidens, amity, atlas), and ruby, who mistakes power for strength and is on a journey that puts both her power (silver eyes) and her strength (hope) to the test.

[twig-tea]

I'm still processing the end of Love in the Big City the series, but I wanted to jot down a few details and unfinished thoughts that are sticking with me after episodes 7 and 8 [series-only thoughts].

Putting together the timeline made me realize how many important moments in Yeong's life share or are near to the same anniversary; We know he contracts HIV in February (2014), and that Gyu-Ho leaves in February (2022), and that Yeong quits his job in February (2023).

In ep5, we see Yeong's phone where he has three missed calls from Gyu-Ho, and we can see that he's saved Gyu-Ho's name as Q~❤ [hearto], and that probably contributed to why he had hope that the mysterious Q was Gyu-Ho.

We see Yeong finish the soy sauce, and he said it was expired back when they were living together, so that means it's another year out of date. There's something in this metaphor about hanging on past when things are good and finally being able to let go.

When Gyu-Ho first looks at the elephants in the cheap Bangkok motel they were a pair on that nightstand, and he only took one of them.

The metaphor of the ceiling fan hanging over them like a threat the one time they have sex without a condom, how the trust that the fan will not fall feels similar to the trust that the PrEP pills will do their job. Thinking about the way Yeong says Kylie is his and how he wants to be sure she'll remain only his.

And how that ceiling fan ties connects with Habibi and his photos of ceiling fans, how the ceiling is the last thing he saw before he went blind for two weeks and so he takes photos of them in every hotel, how he uses it as his profile picture on hookup apps, how he is hiding from his family and the life he doesn't want by spending time with people on the verge of breaking, but holding on.

The way Gyu-Ho haunts the narrative in episodes 7 and 8 the way Kylie haunted the narrative in 5 and 6.

The perspective we got on the scenes from Yeong and Gyu-Ho's trip to Bangkok in 7&8 contrasted with the version we got in 5&6 was so well done; both versions fit together really well but cannot be fully reconciled because our memories are never perfect, and a person is not a character in a novel.

I also found myself pondering how they shot the scenes that reprise across Parts; did they have both directors on site for these moments and shoot them in the same day? The technical aspect of these is so interesting to me because of the different directors and how different these shots looked (not just in the nuances of how they were acted, but how they were coloured, framed, everything).

There's something in my head about how writing was what drove a wedge between them when they were together, what Yeong tried to use to keep them together forever on the lantern (and instead what tore up the lantern), and what he used to remember Gyu-Ho when they were apart.

Something also about how Eun Su was so much better off not being married, I was so relieved when we found out the wedding had been called off, and how the pressure to hide how he was feeling about what was happening in his life was what made him feel closer to Yeong.

I was just so relieved when the T-aras fell through that door after Yeong tried celebrating quitting his job by himself and instead fell into a depression for six days. I have had friends do a similar wellness check for me and I will never forget how loved it made me feel when I thought I was unlovable. I'm just so glad Yeong had the T-aras in his life; and their presence in this section was complicated but deeply moving. I'm still working through everything I think about how they functioned in the series, but I am so, so grateful for them, and to this series as a whole.

I absolutely loved it.

[lesbicosmos-writes]

day 5 of @deadboyween !!

day 5 prompt: family

summary: no one is coping after niko's death, especially edwin. the group are trying to get back to work as a distraction, but it's not really working. then, it gets even worse for edwin when he begins hearing niko's voice inside his head, his own subconscious filling the gap he knows is there, and it hurts.

notes: okay i've been thinking about and working on this fic for SO LONG!! i think it's gonna be 8 chapters but we'll see, i have the first 5 or so written rn, two are posted now!!

also on ao3!!

heard the voices and caught my breath, so close and yet so far from death

Chapter 1

Grief was a strange old thing.

Edwin had only known Niko for a few weeks and now, a month after her death, he still felt the pain of losing her weighing him down as though they had been friends for years. In reality, he’d been grieving her longer than they had known each other, and that was a difficult thing to come to terms with. Theoretically, ghosts could have eternity, so time and emotions didn’t quite correlate in the same way they would have if he were alive. If he were alive, of course he would still be grieving, just as Crystal was, but a few weeks were barely anything compared to how long he had existed. Niko had merely been a blip in time for him, and yet here he was, sitting at his desk preparing for a new client as a way of distracting himself from how much it hurt, from how often he saw a girl lying on the ground, eyes glazed over, blood gushing from her chest, whenever he closed his eyes.

He supposed, when you spent 16 years living in a society full of such strict expectations, where affection was so abnormal that even your own parents never hugged you; and when you spent 73 years in the worst place in existence, entirely alone aside from the creature that continuously hunted you down and tore you apart; and when you spent 34 years with the best person you’d ever met, who you would never give up for anything since you loved him far too much for that and believed there would never be anyone else who would care even half as much about you as he did…meeting someone else who also cared, who also listened, who also helped you and understood you in a way no one else ever had…of course it would hurt for a long time to lose them – no matter how fleeting your time together was.

He'd grown closer to Crystal during the time since Port Townsend. She was as close to Niko as he was, and she’d had a similarly profound effect on her and how she viewed herself and the world. He supposed it must be harder for her, in a way. Being a ghost, Edwin had become rather detached from the idea of death as an ending. Crystal may have been a psychic with full knowledge and access to the spectral realm, but he supposed it must hurt in a different way, being alive and watching someone else die to save you, and someone as kind and loving as Niko Sasaki at that.

At first, he and Crystal had yelled at each other a lot. Both of them had been on edge, their usually stiff-built emotional walls having deteriorated through the overwhelming sadness. They’d been at each other’s throats more than ever, Charles caught in the crossfire, until he eventually convinced the two of them to sit down and talk.

They had talked, and it helped. They weren’t as snappy with one another, since they knew and understood that they were going through the same thing. They bonded over their grief, Edwin even offering Crystal a hug she so clearly needed, which Edwin hadn’t realised he needed too. They had realised they’d become so emotionally vulnerable because both of them felt some sort of blame for what happened. Crystal blamed herself because the slashing spell had been directed at her before Niko jumped in front of it – she felt she should have been the one who died. Edwin felt responsible since it was him they were both trying to rescue. They talked about it, both reassuring each other it was not their fault, but that feeling, that pang of guilt at the mere thought of their friend, never really disappeared. It felt a little lighter though, a little easier.

Charles had also been suffering – of course he had. He’d begun to view Niko as the younger sister he never had and losing her had felt quite like dying all over again. But Charles being Charles put the others’ needs above his own, trying to help them through their grief while pushing his own deep down into himself until it exploded out one night and he burst into tears one night, gripping onto Edwin like he would slip away if he let go.

All three of them were broken. But they had each other. They had people who understood, and they had the Agency – because as much as Edwin hated to admit it, sometimes a distraction helped. Getting his head stuck into casework and research gave him something to focus on, which was why they continued to take on new cases despite everything.

“I’m Edwin Payne,” he introduced himself to their latest client – a middle-aged woman in a 19th century maid’s uniform. “This is Charles Rowland, and Crystal Palace. Welcome to the Dead Boy Detective Agency. How can we help you?”

“My name’s Susan Grantham. In life, I were the maid at one of the bigger houses over in Uxbridge. I did my work willingly, for the Andersons that lived there. The wife Em was a good friend o’ mine, we grew up together and had always been close. She made me the godmother of her children, so when I died in that house three months after she and her husband were killed when their train derailed, I knew I had to stick around and help however I could. But when they grew up, and all of ‘em but the oldest married off and got land of their own, I never went anywhere. Always thought someone would come for me once my job was done but they still ain’t come. So it’s just been me in that house. It’s a hotel now. Em’s great-great grandson was the last to live there, he died in the war in ’43. House was empty for years ‘til someone bought it in the ‘90s and turned it into a hotel. It’s constantly full of people now, but I’m convinced I ain’t the only thing haunting it anymore. There’s been loads of weird accidents in there, and that’s why I’ve come to you.”

“Weird accidents?” Charles repeated. “Sounds like a poltergeist, we’ve dealt with them before.”

“What kind of weird accidents is the establishment succumbing to, Ms Grantham?”

“Oh, all sorts. Knives moving on their own in the kitchens, doors knocking with no one there, and too many guests have come screaming to the front desk about floating furniture.”

“Definitely sounds like a poltergeist, right Edwin?”

“Oh my god, Edwin, this is just like that Scooby Doo episode we watched!” said Niko.

Edwin smiled for a split second, then paused. His face fell. Wait…what?

Edwin didn’t reply to Charles’s question, instead looking around desperate and confused, as if there was any possible way she could be there in the room. She wasn’t, of course. How could she be?

“Edwin, you okay?” Charles asked quietly, clearly worried.

“I thought I…never mind,” Edwin shook his head slightly, turning back to the client. “We’d be more than happy to take your case, it sounds simple enough. Now, onto payment.”

Five minutes later, the payment deal was agreed upon and Susan left them the address to Anderson House before leaving the office.

“Well, this should be a straight-forward one,” Edwin said, looking up with a small smile.

The other two weren’t smiling back. They both looked like they were trying to figure something out, as though they could read Edwin’s thoughts if they stared hard enough.

“What’s the matter with you two?” he asked, already making notes in his little book.

“What’s the matter with us? What’s the matter with you?” Crystal asked.

“Yeah, mate, what was that about?”

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Edwin claimed.

“You went all quiet and weird for a sec looking around like there was something there.”

“I can assure you, I am quite alright, Charles. The window merely created an interesting light pattern on the rug,” he lied.

Charles didn’t seem convinced, but he and Crystal stopped prying.

Edwin cursed himself. He’d thought about Niko non-stop since everything happened, but that was the first time he had imagined her there with them. Her voice sounded so real, like she was really there. Edwin hoped this wouldn’t become a repeating thing, he didn’t know if he’d be able to bear it if Niko’s voice was supplied by his mind but she wasn’t, couldn’t be, physically there. He already missed her enough.

He cleared his throat, shaking the thought from his mind, and got back to the case notes. This one was going to be easy.

Chapter 2

The Case of the Haunted Hotel was easy. It was the running commentary in Edwin’s mind that was not. Hearing Niko’s voice had apparently not been a one-time thing. Throughout the entire case, part of Edwin’s mental commentary had been through her. She’d provided more comparisons between the case and one of the Scooby Doo episodes they’d watched together, given several niche comments that would have sounded incredibly strange in any other voice, and had helped with the case itself, reminding Edwin that Charles had put the one item they really needed in the bag of tricks a few hours beforehand. And it didn’t even stop after that case; it continued for a few weeks, and as Edwin grew somewhat more accustomed to the apparent second consciousness in his mind, he started to enjoy it – it was a comfort that he could still feel her helping them, like it was all four of them on a case together instead of three of them and a painful space.

He only enjoyed it as it was happening, though. When the cases were closed and they returned to the office, he sat down and thought back on the idea, and then it was much more of another hurt than a comfort. When he had most of his focus directed onto a case, it was nice to have her back in a strange subconscious way, but when he was alone with his thoughts once more, the little voice in his head gave him little more than overwhelming grief. Because no matter how hard he tried to pretend that voice was real, he knew it could never be. Niko was dead, and despite the fact Edwin himself was too, he knew this one was forever. They’d left her lying on the floor of Esther Finch’s living room for Death to collect, not even waiting to see her rise as a ghost before they fled, as they had so many times since 1989. By now she’d be settled into her afterlife, no doubt in the paradise she deserved, perhaps reunited with her father, while Edwin was still on Earth. Even if he’d wanted to go with Death in the hopes of joining her, he knew he wouldn’t. He may have filled in the forms that meant Hell was no longer looking for him, but that was still his afterlife – that damn demon had made sure of that. His choices were eternal damnation in Hell or potential eternal grief on Earth, and the answer to that didn’t even beg questioning. He’d just have to learn to exist in her absence, even if he did have her sweet happy voice echoing in his mind now.

Several cases later – some of these ones much more complex than the poltergeist of Anderson House – the group needed a break. Even before they had any living members of the agency, Edwin and Charles used to have a rest day every once in a while, just to do something other than work for once, whether it be binge-playing Cluedo, Edwin teaching Charles fencing, or the two doing separate things, Edwin visiting the many museums around London and Charles exercising his ghostly privileges by going to all the concerts he wants. These rest days had become more common with Crystal around, since she actually got tired, and they’d found a whole host of things they enjoy doing as a group.

Tonight, they’d been to the theatre. There’d been a musical on in the West End that Crystal had desperately wanted to see, and while Charles and Edwin had never really had an interest in musicals, they’d agreed to go along with her. Edwin found he rather enjoyed it actually, and had been mentally replying to everything Mind-Niko was saying as they watched.

It was growing dark when they left the theatre, so Charles and Edwin walked Crystal back to her new flat on their way home. Charles and Crystal were walking slightly ahead of Edwin, whose gaze flicked between the two of them. He didn’t know if anything else had happened between them since their goodbye kiss in Port Townsend – Charles certainly hadn’t mentioned anything, but Edwin worried he wouldn’t tell him if anything had, likely out of fear of hurting his feelings since his own confession. Charles had a knack for leaving out information that might cause Edwin distress. Part of Edwin wanted to see their lack of anything official as a sign of hope that maybe, just maybe Charles could start to feel the same way he did. The larger part of Edwin, however, only wanted Charles to be happy, and if that came from him being with Crystal, then Edwin would be wholeheartedly supportive – he’d even tried to convince him to talk to her about it before she intended to leave Port Townsend. And it was clear there was still something there between them, whether they were acting on it or not. They walked down the street together, not quite touching or holding hands, but as close as seemed physically possible without either of those things happening. Charles was wearing his usual long black jacket and slacks, whereas Crystal had dressed up a bit, wearing a loose-fitting lavender trouser suit with one of her many floral designed mesh tops underneath, the pinkish-purple matching her eyeliner.

“She looks so pretty,” the Niko in Edwin’s mind supplied, and he supposed she was right.

He may not have been interested in girls that way, but he could still admit that Crystal was beautiful. He could hardly blame Charles for developing feelings almost immediately, she was exactly the kind of girl who usually caught his best friend’s eye. Only Crystal wasn’t one of those girls Charles would see in the street gossiping with their friends, having never seen a ghost in her life and likely never believing in them if you asked. Crystal was psychic, and brilliant and messy and beautiful. Edwin may have spent a lot of time in petty arguments with her, but beneath that he truly cared for her, and she’d become a close friend. He admired her strength after everything she’d been through. Once David was dealt with and Edwin could stop stressing so much about having a hellish being so close to the agency, so close to him, he really started to see how much he had affected her. Having your memories stolen from you only to get them back and discover you did horrible things in the past…that must have been horrible. Yet here she was, a fully-fledged part of the Dead Boy Detective Agency despite being neither dead nor a boy, and she was one of the best people Edwin knew. His thoughts about Crystal were soon interrupted by a different thought, this one taking on a different, more feminine voice than his own inner monologue.

“You know, I never told you, but I have such a crush on her.”

That stopped Edwin in his tracks. What? What was wrong with him? Had his mind really invented a story about Niko liking Crystal in some sick attempt to quell the jealousy he couldn’t help but feel towards her and Charles? Was he really that petty? He thought he’d been handling Charles’s rejection well, he’d never felt more than a slight twinge in his chest whenever he saw the two of them together. He was perfectly fine with the fact Charles didn’t feel the same way – he had never quite expected him to in the first place – wasn’t he? Evidently, his subconscious disagreed. He felt horrible, as though he’d done something so wrong, not only disrespecting Charles and Crystal but Niko too.

“Mate, what’s wrong?” Charles asked, having noticed Edwin had stopped and gone back for him.

“Nothing,” Edwin replied sharply.

“Are you sure-”

“I said I’m fine, Charles.”

He hadn’t intended to sound quite so cold and snappy, and immediately regretted it. Before Charles could say anything else, he marched ahead, passing Crystal without even looking at her. He knew Charles was just worried. He had been giving him a look for a few weeks whenever he thought his back was turned, and Edwin felt terrible for making him so concerned. But he couldn’t tell him. What was he supposed to say? Oh, my apologies Charles, it’s just that my mind has somehow been conjuring up the voice of our dead friend for nearly a month, and I’m not handling it too well. Charles told him he could tell him anything, but he had already burdened him with the knowledge of his feelings, he didn’t want to give him something else to deal with. Edwin had survived Hell for seventy years, surely he could handle his own mind by now.

“Edwin, calm down,” he heard the imaginary voice of Niko say, and she was doing nothing to help the situation.

“Stop,” Edwin replied aloud.

He tried to keep the tears at bay as he walked on, unable to quite make out exactly what Charles and Crystal were muttering about behind him.

[sequinsmile-x]

Our Great Divide - Chapter 1: When I'm Above the Trees

It's what they'd hoped would happen for years. For a decade it's what they would talk about late at night whilst snuggled up in bed together, quiet voices whispering about a life where Jack and Haley came back, where Jack could meet his siblings and their family would finally feel complete. Now it was finally happening, Emily had a pit in her stomach. A heavy weight made of fear and guilt as she worried that this could actually be the thing that tore them apart.

A Foyet Arc AU

-x-

Hi friends!

I have been working on this one in the background for weeks! I am so excited about it and also nervous because it's something new and it feels a little different to what I've written before.

It's going to be a fun ride full of feelings and emotions.

Please let me know what you think <3

-x-

Warnings: Full list of warnings can be found on the Master List

Words: 4.3k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

April 2019

He wakes up to the sound of laughter. 

There once would have been a time when would have been the first awake. When he’d sneak out from Emily’s embrace, a kiss pressed against her forehead as she’d groan and press her face into his pillow. It was something they’d done since the first morning they’d woken up together, their relationship finally shifting into what they’d both wanted for years and what they’d both put off to protect the other. Her return from Paris had been the catalyst they’d both needed. She’d shown up on his doorstep that first night back, her one bag of belongings slung over her shoulder and an unsure look on her face when she asked if she could come in as if he’d ever want anything other than her. 

She’d never left. Not really. They’d immediately shifted into something serious, and if it had been anyone other than her he’d have worried it was all too fast. It had surprised him how easily they’d settled into it, how it felt like they’d always been together. He’d helped her find herself again and she’d helped him, her love a reminder that he deserved to be loved, something he’d allowed himself to forget ever since Foyet had torn through his life and his flesh like it was made of nothing stronger than paper. 

Some days, he felt every second of the decade that had passed since he’d sent away Jack and Haley. Every moment of his son’s life that he’d missed because of one man as sharp as the knife he’d almost killed him with. Other days, it felt like no time had passed at all. Like he would wake up in that hospital room with Emily by his side, a determined look on her face as she told him in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t going home, a level of defiance he should have known to expect from her even then. 

Foyet had never reappeared. Had never slithered out of whatever hole he’d crawled into after that fateful day that changed everything. It was almost crueller this way, his silence loud and overwhelming as Aaron tried to move forward with his life, tried to make sure he had something to show for the years that had passed when he finally got to see his son again. It was part of why he hadn’t shut himself off from Emily, why he’d let her sneak into his heart and help fix it, her soft and gentle love the exact thing he’d needed all along. 

He groans as he rolls over, unsurprised to find his wife and daughter looking at him, matching smiles and dark eyes staring at him as they giggle again. Stella immediately reaches for him, the three-year-old launching herself from Emily’s arms onto his chest, her voice almost impossibly loud for someone so small.

“Daddy!” 

“Morning princess,” he groans, raising his eyebrow at his wife when she laughs at him, her lips pressed together as she reaches over and runs her fingers through his hair, “I’m sure I put you down in your own bed last night,” he says, his comment more aimed at his wife than the little girl smiling widely at him, “When did you end up in here?” 

“She snuck in at about 2 am,” Emily says, pushing Stella’s dark, wild hair from her face, “We needed snuggles.” 

Aaron lovingly shakes his head at the two of them. He knew he was a pushover when it came to their children, Stella especially because she was the youngest, but Emily was too. She’d never been the one to encourage them back to their own beds in the middle of the night, and part of him is surprised that he doesn’t find both Hugo and Leo in with them too. 

“Where are the boys?” 

“Hugo is picking his outfit for school,” she says, smiling at the mention of their eldest, their sweet, opinionated 7-year-old, “I talked him down from the dinosaur costume. Again,” she laughs when he does, the sound warming him from the inside out, “And Leo is doing what he is always doing-”

“Whatever Hugo is doing,” they say in unison, the 5-year-old’s neverending admiration of his older brother well known. 

Aaron hoped it was something that would last forever, their closeness something he could never help but imagine Jack as part of too. He’d always asked to be a big brother, too young to truly understand that his parent’s separation meant that wouldn’t be possible in the way he wanted. He saw Jack in his children, especially in his sons, and it never failed to make him ache. The gap in his family left by his son as big as the space carved out in his chest. 

It had never been his intention to have this. Not only because he felt like he didn’t deserve a second chance, his one attempt at a family hidden away under names he didn’t know in a place he could not follow, but because he worried it was tempting fate. That it would have been asking Foyet to come after him and Emily, and he had refused to put her in that situation. 

Life, as it turned out, had different plans. 

He’d never forget the look on Emily’s face when she told him she was pregnant with Hugo. She’d been a strange mix of terrified and defiant that had almost become her signature, insisting that she was going to do this if he wanted to be part of it or not. It was still painful to think about, the look in her eyes that he’d never unsee as she told him she couldn’t be convinced not to keep the baby, as if she thought he’d ever try and tell her what to do with her own body. 

Even though it hadn’t been planned, having a baby with her was all he’d ever wanted but what he didn’t think he could have. Their decision to move forward with it, to build their family, hadn’t been any less terrifying than before, but looking back he couldn’t imagine anything different. 

“Pen called,” Emily says, drawing his attention back to her, “She said she needs to speak to me as soon as possible.” 

He frowns, curiosity sparking in his gut, but he’s distracted when Stella pats his cheek, bored of not being the centre of attention, “You know what that means my little star?” He asks, hauling her onto his hip and standing up, his smile getting wider when Emily lovingly rolls her eyes at the nickname, “We should go make breakfast whilst Mommy gets ready for work.”

He’d retired when Hugo was born, the decision an easy one. An attempt to make amends, to make better decisions that he hadn’t made for Jack and Haley. He was surprised that he didn’t miss it, that he didn’t feel like he had a gap in his life that his job had left behind. He was happy to spend his days hosting princess parties and let his little girl paint his nails, or build forts with his sons when they came home from school. It was the life that, looking back on it, he wishes he’d given Haley, but if he had he didn’t know if he’d be here. Every decision he’d made had rippled out and led him to what he had now - and he wasn’t sure what he’d do without it. 

“Please make the coffee extra strong,” Emily grumbles as she gets out of bed, rubbing her neck, her smile wide as she looks at the pair of them together, “I have a feeling I’m going to need it.” 

He salutes her, something Stella mirrors, and he laughs when Emily rolls her eyes, “Yes ma’am.” 

She scoffs half-heartedly as she turns away, throwing him a look over her shoulder as she walks into the ensuite, “Don’t call me ma’am.” 

___

She suppresses a yawn as she steps into her office, the empty cup of coffee that Aaron had poured into her favourite carry cup doing nothing to wake her up. She’d been up half the night with Stella, the toddler as insistent on her attention as she had been since the moment she was born when she snuck into their bed. Her eyes soft and sleepy as she asked if she could sleep in the big bed, her face already pressed against Emily’s chest before she could even think about saying no. 

She places the empty carry cup on her desk and smiles at the picture next to it. A photo of her, Aaron and the kids in a frame declaring her the world’s best mom. It was a gift they’d presented her with on Mother’s Day. Their smiles wide and fingers sticky with glue and glitter from the handmade cards they’d given her. Pieces of paper that were neatly folded by her husband before he handed them over to the kids, their handwriting, or in Stella’s case scribbles, beautiful and messy and somehow a perfect visualisation of their life. 

There were times when Emily still couldn’t believe that she’d made it to this. That she and Aaron had found each other after everything they’d been through, that they’d made a family out of the ashes of their lives, happiness pieced together with what they’d been left with. 

They’d agreed when they knew their relationship was serious, when they knew that they were going to be it for each other, that children weren’t on the cards for them. It felt like it would be inviting Foyet back into their lives, dangling a carrot in front of him that he wouldn’t be able to resist. Aaron had told her he understood if it was a dealbreaker for her, that he’d let her go if it meant she would be with someone else who could give her children without feeling like they were risking her life, and she’d shut him down with a kiss and a declaration of her love. She would have been lying if she’d said she didn’t want children, she always had, but she wanted him more. She knew she could have been happy without children, but she wasn’t sure she could have been happy without him. 

She made peace with it. She loved their life and whilst she never moved away from hoping they’d somehow find Foyet after so many years of silence, that they’d bring Jack and Haley back and have enough time to add to their family, she never let the sadness when it didn’t happen take over. She felt nothing short of loved and adored as their relationship shifted into them being married, their engagement short but sweet, and when they bought their home they politely ignored the realtor's comments about the room next to the master being a perfect nursery. Emily had simply squeezed Aaron’s hand as they walked through, her smile soft as she said one of the rooms would be perfect for Jack when they finally got him back. 

She sometimes worried if she was being naive, the chances of anything with Foyet happening getting slimmer with each year that passed, but she kept the hope alive for both of them. Aaron’s soft smiles and a gentle squeeze of her hand every time she said it the were only things she could hope for. 

She made peace with what her life looked like, right up until she was staring at a positive pregnancy test. They were newly married, the ink on their marriage certificate barely dry, and she still remembered how terrified she’d been, a feeling she’d always thought she’d be spared if she found herself pregnant again, but she’d immediately known what she’d wanted to do. She’d kept it from Aaron for a couple of days. She hated to look back on the conversation they’d had, heartbreaking and painful as they navigated something difficult that in another life would have been full of nothing but joy. 

The fear had followed them throughout her pregnancy, and even into the first few months of Hugo’s life. The worry that Foyet was watching them, that he knew about their precious son, everpresent, a phantom that lingered in every corner. The longer they went without anything happening, as months turned into a year and then more, they relaxed, a sense of ease overtaking everything else as they allowed themselves to believe that life was finally giving them a break. Leo and Stella were planned, additions to their family that had brought them nothing but joy from the start. 

Emily still felt guilt over the start of Hugo’s life in comparison to his brother and sister, and she didn’t need to be good at her job to know that’s why she held him so close sometimes. Why she’d hold onto him tighter than necessary, an ache in her heart when he’d scamper away a little earlier every time, already grown up enough at the grand old age of 7 to be too cool for his parents if his friends were around. 

They were happy, despite the perpetual awareness that something was missing. Her children knew about their older brother. Jack was spoken about in their home like he’d always been a part of it, like the closest he’d ever been wasn’t pictures hung on the walls amongst the rest of them. The kids would ask about them, their innocence almost painful as they questioned again and again if they’d ever get to meet him. Emily knew Aaron found it hard. That the parts of Hugo, Leo and Stella that were made of him were also in Jack, in the boy who was so little when he last saw him who would now look so different. A teenager whose face neither of them could quite picture, the soft boyish features he’d had a decade ago surely long gone. 

There’s a light knock on her office door and she smiles when she looks up and sees Penelope there, a cup of coffee in each of her hands, “Oh Penelope Garcia you are a saint.” 

Penelope flashes a smile at her, and steps into the office, “Rough night?” 

Emily hums as she takes the coffee from her, “Something like that. Stella woke me up in the middle of the night,” she groans in delight as she takes a sip of the coffee, “She’s lucky she’s so cute.” 

“She’s your kid, of course, she’s cute,” Penelope chuckles, an edge to it that makes Emily furrow her brows, her friend's demeanour finally registering. Her shoulders were tight, a tension in her frame that usually didn’t exist unless they were on the worst of cases, the after-effects lasting long after the team came home. 

“Pen, is everything okay?” 

Penelope clears her throat, her hands tight in a ball in front of her after she places her coffee cup down on Emily’s desk, “I have alerts set on a lot of names so I know when something has happened. All of us. Some of the biggest bads we’ve dealt with. The kids, obviously-”

Emily frowns, “Pen,” she says, stopping her from spiralling any further, “Tell me what you need to say.”

She nods, visibly swallowing thickly and she blows out a slow breath, “This morning I got an alert about George Foyet.” 

It feels like all the air is sucked out of the room, and Emily has to place her hand on her desk to steady herself, her legs suddenly feeling like jelly. Every decision she’d made over the last several years suddenly weighing on her, the picture on her desk of her children suddenly a harbinger of doom instead of bringing the spark of joy it had just minutes ago. 

“Wh..what? No one has heard anything about him in years,” she places her hand over her mouth as she tries to centre herself, her eyes wide as she reaches for her phone, “I need to call Aaron. He should go pick up the boys, I don’t want them anywhere we can’t see them. I-”

“Emily,” Penelope says, cutting her off this time, her eyes too kind when she looks up, “He’s dead.”

It’s another gut punch, another unexpected twist that steals the air from her lungs on this morning that had seemed so normal when she’d woken up, “What?”

Penelope’s face flickers into a half smile as she delivers the news again, the very thing they both knew they’d been waiting years to hear. 

“George Foyet is dead.”

___

June 2012

“Fuck.” 

The panic is familiar. Greeting her like an old friend as it wraps its hand around her throat, realisation hitting her all at once as she opens the medicine cabinet and is faced with an unopened box of tampons. The way she’d been feeling for weeks, exhausted, nauseous and irritable, things she’d put down to the relentless back to back cases they’d been on, suddenly make sense. Puzzle pieces she thinks she must have willfully been ignoring clicking into place, one obvious answer staring her in the face. 

“Fuck,” she repeats, her mouth going dry in an instant, her chest stuttering as she struggles to fill her lungs. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. 

“Sweetheart, is everything okay?” 

She closes her eyes at the sound of Aaron’s voice through the door and she blows out a breath, clearing her throat before she speaks, hoping more than anything that her voice doesn’t shake, “Everything’s fine,” she says, swallowing thickly, “I stubbed my toe, thats all.” 

“Can I help?” 

She laughs, a desperate edge to it as she shakes her head at him, “I’ve survived worse honey, I’ll be out in a second.” 

She’s grateful when he relents, when he steps away from the other side of the door and she’s alone again. She takes a few seconds to tell herself not to panic, even though she knows she’s right, and decides there and then that she’ll buy a test in the morning, that there was no need to worry Aaron at this stage. 

She sleeps badly that night. Torn from sleep by nightmares of a baby whose face she can’t picture being taken from her by Foyet, his smile wide as her screams go unheard. She lets Aarfon think she’s dreaming about Ian again. Lets herself sink into his embrace and seeks out the comfort she needs more than he knows. 

When the test is positive, the result appearing immediately, she suddenly feels like she’s 15 again. Her heart in her throat as she tries to breathe, the opening and closing of the main bathroom door at work as other agents filter in and out doing nothing to calm her nerves. She wraps the test in a bunch of tissues and shoves it to the bottom of her go-bag. They are distracted by a case, something she’s grateful for because it gives her some time to get her head around it, to wrestle with the fact that this was something she couldn’t deny she wanted. 

Aaron knew something was wrong. He wasn’t stupid, she knew that, and even if he wasn’t a world-class profiler he knew her. He’d made it his business to know everything there was to know about her so she isn’t surprised when he’s persistent in his attempt to find out what was going on with her. She lasts another day without saying something, her hand on her belly as she lays next to her sleeping husband, fear and hope pressed into her skin even though she knows what she wants to do. 

The next night, she waits until they are in their hotel room, until his back is turned because she’s not sure she can see the look on his face when she tells him, and she blows out a slow breath. 

“I’m pregnant.” 

It hangs over them and he freezes, his shoulders tight as he turns to look at where she’s sitting on the edge of the bed, his expression unreadable to her for the first time in years. 

“Wh…what?” 

“I’m pregnant,” she repeats, her arms crossed over her chest as she protects herself, her gaze falling to the floor as he continues to stare at her, “I found out a couple of days ago. I realised I was late and…I took a test.” 

“A couple of days ago?” He asks, and she looks up at him. He’s a little closer now but still not close enough to touch, his expression still neutral as she nods, “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

She scoffs and shakes her head, throwing her arms up in the air as she laughs disbelievingly, “Why do you think, Aaron?” She asks pressing her lips together, trying not to be angry at him because she knows he’s done nothing to deserve it, “We always said…” she swallows thickly, hating that she feels like she could cry, “We always said we wouldn’t do this. And now it’s happened anyway,” she scoffs again, “Because apparently I’m the most fertile person to ever exist.” 

He knew about Rome. She’d told him not long after they got together, answering the questions he’d never asked about her actions on a case years ago. He sighs and steps forward, “Em-”

“I’m keeping it,” she says firmly, sounding more sure than she feels, her voice shaking as the tears she can no longer fight push past her lashline, “You can…be as involved as you want. But I’m not getting rid of it.” 

He almost stumbles backwards, her words a physical blow, “As involved as I want?” He repeats incredulously, “You’re my wife.” 

She twists her rings on her finger, the weight of them heavy for once instead of a comfort, “I’m not getting an abor-”

“I would never ask you to do something you didn’t want to do sweetheart,” he says, kneeling in front of her, barely feeling the creak of his joints as he reaches for her hands, “I would never…” he trails off, his voice cracking, “Do you really think so little of me?”

It breaks her, forces the sob that she’d kept caught in her chest past her lips and she collapses forward, sinking into his waiting embrace, “Of course not,” she says, grasping his t-shirt in her hands, “I’m sorry, of course not, I just…” she trails off and looks at him, a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh escaping her, “I can’t believe this is happening.” 

“Em,” he says, cupping her cheek, “I know this wasn’t planned, but we’ll make it work.” 

She scoffs, “Make it work? We have a sociopath stalking our every move.”

“No one has seen or heard from Foyet in years.” 

She shakes her head, “And you think that means he isn’t out there? Your son and ex-wife have been in hiding for years, honey. I won’t do that. I won’t let him take anymore from us than he already has.”

He nods, already aware that would be what she’d say, “I know,” he kisses her forehead, his love and desperation seeping from his skin to hers, “I know, sweetheart. But we have this, and if you want it, I will find a way to keep us all safe.” 

She closes her eyes and she nods, her breath shaky as it skips over his face, “Okay.” 

“Okay?” 

She presses her lips together and smiles, her chin and lips trembling as she pulls back to look at him, “Okay. Yes,” she laughs half-heartedly, “We’re having a baby.” 

He smiles despite the fear that settles in his chest, the seeds of it planting in his lungs, ready to bloom over the coming months, “We’re having a baby.” He sits next to her on the bed and tucks her against his side, his arms tight around her as she folds herself against him, her sigh heavy and loud as she does so.  “What are you thinking, sweetheart?” 

“I just…” she trails off, unsure how to say it, how to put into words how she’d been feeling since the moment a bright pink cross had stared up at her from her hands, almost comically positive given the situation. 

“You just, what sweetheart?” He asks softly, his touch gentle as he reaches for her, pulling her against his side, anchoring her to him to comfort them both. She sighs, her cheek against his shoulder, the words easier now she was no longer looking at him. 

“I just thought that if I got pregnant again, if I was with someone I loved and had my shit together, that this would be something I could be happy about.” 

Silence draws out around them, thick and cloying and she worries it will choke them. Then he speaks, his voice quiet, almost a whisper, but booming in their silent hotel room.  

“You can be happy, Em,” he says, and she looks at him, moving so quickly her neck pulls, her hand shooting up to soothe it. He smiles and tucks some of her hair behind her ear, “I’m happy. I’m scared,” he clenches his jaw as he admits it, as if it somehow makes him weak, and she covers his hand with hers, linking their fingers together over her cheek, “I’m terrified Foyet will come out of whatever hole he crawled into and come after you, but I’m happy.” 

She licks her lower lip, her mouth suddenly dry, her voice croaking as she forces herself to speak, “Really?”

“Really,” he says, tugging her close, holding her tight against him, “I’m having a baby with you, how could I not be?” 

Her smile shakes and she kisses his jaw and then tilts her head to capture his lips, “I love you. So fucking much.” 

He kisses her back, putting everything he could never quite find the words for into it, “I love you too.” 

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for tattling?

This was a couple years ago. Our ages, at the time, were I believe as follows: Me, 16F

My sister, Jane, 13F

My other sister, Rose, 11F

My cousin, Scott, 15M

My other cousin, Georgia, 12F

I’m trying to write this in a way that, if one of them does stumble across it, they won’t know it’s talking about them. But all important details will be there.

We were staying over at Scott’s and generally having a great time. I could drive at that point, so we were having fun being away from parents and with me able to drive them (not too far, as we all have somewhat strict parents).

I was aware, somewhat, that Scott was addicted to smoking weed, this was something that had come up before, mostly in Jane and Scott’s conversations. My stance on this was “I don’t care what you do, it’s none of  my business, just please do it safely” due to past experience with self-destructive people. I didn't know that Jane also was doing drugs (unsure which) though not while we were out of town.

The rest of the group went off with Scott to meet his dealer, I stayed home to spend time with my very young cousin (6 at the time, I think). I knew where they were going. The only ones who had contact with the actual dealer were Scott and Jane, I double checked about that, I didn’t want Georgia or Rose getting involved in that.

That night, they were all sleeping in one room and I in the next room over (I’ve always been sort of an outcast among extended family, just due to being kind of odd). I stayed with them and talked until about 11:00, and I saw both Scott and Jane smoking. I knew they were planning on letting Georgia smoke as well, but that they said Rose was too young.

I didn’t care what they did. I went to sleep hours before them.

The next day, something tipped off our parents (probably the fact that the whole downstairs smelled like weed… still don’t know how they failed to consider that, honestly) and everyone got pulled away for questioning. My mom asked me if I knew anything, I said I went to bed early and hadn’t seen a thing. I was never even suspected, I’m seen as too much of a goody two shoes.

I was in the bathroom, hiding, because I was suddenly feeling very, very guilty about not stopping them. I knew drugs could cause issues (although I also think that, at the time, it was a good thing Scott had that to help him, as he was extremely depressed) especially for Georgia and Rose.

I ended up texting my mom and telling her that I actually had seen them smoking. She texted back saying that she’d already pretty much known, but I’d just confirmed it.

I’ve never quite been able to convince myself I did the right thing. It tore the group apart. We can’t be alone together anymore. Everyone is paranoid about this happening again now. Scott ended up turning to harder drugs and getting sent to rehab after an overdose.

I don’t know what I should’ve done, or if I responded right.

Was I the asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[stanleypinesgf]

Falling for Mystery - Chapter Seven

Falling for Mystery Masterlist Warnings: mentions of abusive ex, some injuries and blood mentioned but not described in depth, more angst than i was aiming for my loves but i'll be worth it i promise! Please note: this is a slow burn fic with eventual smut and mature themes, 18+ only and please check warnings at the start of chapters! ALSO idk how long I'll maintain a daily posting schedule as I have a 9-5 too LOL but will try my best!! TYSM for all the support so far!!

w/c: 2,092

The darkness enveloped me like a thick fog, swallowing the last remnants of consciousness. The panic that once clawed at my throat faded into a haze, the roar of whatever creature lurked in the woods replaced by an eerie silence.

“Hey, babe. Miss me?”

I blinked, the world around me slowly shifting into focus. I was standing in the middle of our apartment, back in Portland. The familiarity was unnerving, and his smile was almost animalistic, leering down at me. He had a knack for making me feel so small, insignificant.

“What... why are you here?” I asked, trying to steady my voice to appear more confident, when in reality, I was anything but. Dread crept in, taking hold.

He stepped closer, a glimmer of that familiar charm in his eyes. “I just wanted to see you, to tell you how sorry I am, babe. You know I love you, right?”

“Jake, if you loved me, then it would never have come to this. I left because I was afraid of you!” I reminded him, trying to hold onto the anger that had once protected me from him.

“You know we could still have something special, don’t you? Just give it a chance.”

“No,” I said firmly, shaking my head as I stepped back. “I can’t do this. Not again.”

“Why not?” His expression shifted, desperation creeping into his voice. “I can change, I promise. I was stupid. I didn’t mean any of it.”

“You’re kidding?” I scoffed, the anger bubbling in my veins. “You turned my friends against me; even some of my own family believed what you said about me! You hit me, Jake, over and over. The worst part is, I thought you were justified in your actions… I blamed myself!”

His gaze hardened, the charming facade slipping just enough for me to see the truth beneath. “I made mistakes, but so did you. Always getting coffee with those guys you work with for a start. But I know we can fix it. You know we were good together.”

I tried to find the words to respond, but none came. Was I really at fault for this? Maybe I did drive him to do and say all those things after all. Everyone else seemed to think he was a great guy, people had a hard time believing me when I told them what a monster he had become.

“You think Stan’s any different? He’s never gonna put up with you like I did! I was good to you!” The venom in his words tore through me.

In the distance, I could hear someone calling my name, footsteps pounding towards me. I looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice, but before I could, the world around me began to fade, replaced by an icy chill.

I felt myself being dragged into the depths of a dark abyss, Jake’s voice lingering, taunting me as I struggled to break free.

And then, just as quickly, I was jolted awake by two firm hands on my shoulders. I recognised the familiar, gruff voice. The fog of the dream clung to me, and as I blinked, it began to fade, revealing the sharp edges of reality.

“There you are!” Stan’s voice cut through the haze of fear. He was panting slightly, his face a mix of relief and anger. "What the hell were you thinking? Going into the woods like that?”

I couldn’t answer, not yet. My lungs burned, and my legs were weak. Before I could try to stand, strong arms lifted me from the forest floor. Stan pulled me into his chest, the scent of pine and old leather, mixed with something uniquely his, grounding me in the moment.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” His tone was urgent yet somewhat calm.

“I should be able to walk... you can—” I started, but Stan interrupted.

“You’re joking? I’m not letting that thing get any closer to you!” He huffed, jogging towards the shack as I clung to his broad shoulders.

The rest of the journey was almost silent, dipping in and out of consciousness as the guilt swallowing me whole. I had just made Stan risk his life for me; how could I be so selfish? What I had done was reckless and dangerous.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the creaking of floorboards on the porch of the Shack, relief starting to wash over me. We were home. Stan fumbled for his keys to lock the door behind us, his eyes scanning the tree line, ensuring that... thing was out of sight. But there was more than just concern etched into his features; a flicker of vulnerability danced in his gaze, as if he was trying to mask his own fears. I could see him wrestling with the weight of responsibility, his jaw clenched tight. Did he blame himself for not being out here with me? For not being able to protect me? Each time he glanced my way, a mixture of determination and uncertainty filled his expression, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was as scared as I was about what could happen next. As if he was also scared of losing someone.

“You’re okay now; you’re safe,” he murmured, his gruffness giving way to something softer as he held me close for a moment longer than necessary.

“I— I didn’t think—” I started, but my voice faltered. I wasn’t even sure what I was trying to explain. My body trembled, adrenaline still coursing through my veins, and tears started to flow freely.

Stan shifted me in his arms, carrying me inside the shack. “No talking. Let’s get you inside. You look like you’ve been through a goddamn war.”

Once we were inside, the warmth of the shack enveloped me, but it didn’t chase away the chill in my bones. Stan set me down gently on the couch, his hands gripping my shoulders as if he was afraid I’d disappear again if he let go. His eyes scanned me from head to toe, frowning at the dried blood on my arms and legs.

“You need to clean up,” he said, his voice commanding yet edged with concern. “Go shower, wash this off. Then I’ll take care of the rest.”

I blinked at him, the absurdity of a shower after nearly being killed by some forest creature not quite computing. The firmness in his voice left no room for argument, and the exhaustion weighing down my limbs pushed me to obey.

Dragging myself to the bathroom, I peeled off my dirty clothes and stepped into the hot stream of water. As I stood under the spray, I could still feel the intensity of Stan’s gaze on me, the way his hands lingered a second longer on my skin than necessary. The way my heart fluttered against my better judgment when he held me.

When I came back out, wrapped in an oversized towel, Stan was still waiting, arms crossed and that same look of concern etched across his face. He had a first aid kit open on the counter, a bottle of vodka seated next to it, and a neatly folded pile of clean clothes—his clothes. He motioned for me to sit back down.

“I—uh, I didn’t wanna go through your stuff, so I brought you these for now...” he seemed almost sheepish at the admission.

“Thank you, can you—” I started, but he turned away before I could finish. I carefully slipped into the baggy t-shirt and tartan pajama bottoms, their scent enveloping me.

“You can turn around now,” I half-chuckled.

“Let me see,” he said, his voice softer now, though his gruff exterior remained intact.

I sat, the tension between us thickening as Stan knelt beside me. His hands were surprisingly gentle as he took my arm, examining the cuts with care. His fingers brushed against my skin, sending an unexpected shiver down my spine. It wasn’t just the cold air; it was the way he looked at me—like I was fragile, like he was afraid I’d break if he didn’t handle me just right.

“This is nothing,” I mumbled, trying to sound tough, but the vulnerability in my voice betrayed me.

He didn’t respond, just kept tending to my wounds in silence. After a few moments, I couldn’t take the quiet anymore. The weight of what had happened in the woods, of what was happening between us, was too much.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Stan paused, his fingers freezing for a second before continuing to work on the bandages. He looked up at me, his eyes softer than I’d ever seen them. “What kind of question is that?”

“I mean…” I hesitated, unsure how to explain the jumble of emotions swirling inside me. “You don’t have to take care of me like this. It’s my fault…”

His brow furrowed, as if my words confused him. “Of course I do. Who else is gonna do it?” There was a tenderness in his voice, but also something more—something that made my chest tighten. “Besides, I—" he started, then stopped himself, his eyes flicking away as though he wasn’t ready to finish that sentence.

Suddenly, the space between us felt too small. His hands still cradled my arm, and the warmth from his skin was almost overwhelming. Before I knew it, I leaned closer, my breath catching in my throat. The air between us crackled with an energy I couldn’t ignore, and for a moment, neither of us moved.

And then, without thinking, I closed the gap. Our lips met, soft at first, tentative, like we were both testing the waters. Stan’s hand slid from my arm to my waist, pulling me closer as the kiss deepened. I could feel the pent-up tension in the way he kissed me, the restraint he had been holding back finally slipping. My heart raced, not just from the adrenaline still coursing through me, but from the realisation that this was happening—that I wanted this.

But just as quickly, fear set in. The memories of my nightmare, of trusting someone too easily, flooded back. My stomach twisted, and I pulled away, breathless and suddenly terrified of what I’d just let happen.

Stan’s eyes were wide, and I could see the hurt and confusion flicker across his face. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice rough, like he didn’t understand.

“I—” I couldn’t find the words. My mind was reeling, and all I knew was that I couldn’t let this happen. Not now. Not when everything felt so precarious. Every time I think about trusting someone, I see Jake’s face, the way he used to smile at me before it all went wrong. I remember how I dismissed the little signs—his jealousy disguised as concern, the way he twisted my words until I questioned my own reality. Trusting Stan felt like stepping onto a tightrope without a safety net, and I didn’t know if I was strong enough to balance.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, backing away. “I… I can’t.”

Stan blinked, and for a moment, I saw something in him crack—a vulnerability I hadn’t noticed before. His hand hovered in the air, like he wanted to reach for me, but then he pulled it back, stuffing it into his pocket.

“Yeah. Sure,” he muttered, his voice thick with emotion. He stood up, his back stiff as he turned away from me. “You should get some rest.”

He didn’t wait for a response before walking toward the door. My heart clenched as I watched him go, the weight of what had just happened—and what hadn’t—pressing down on me like a thousand pounds. I wanted to call out to him, to explain, but the words caught in my throat. Instead, I sat there, alone in the quiet, regret settling in like a cold chill.

As the door clicked shut behind him, a wave of silence crashed over me, amplifying the weight of my solitude. I started to sob, each breath shaking my body as the intensity of everything that had just happened poured out of me. Memories of the woods and Jake’s haunting voice intertwined with the warmth of Stan’s embrace. The struggle within me felt insurmountable, and as I curled into myself on the couch, I couldn't help but wonder if I’d just ruined the chance for something real. The tears streamed down my cheeks, and I fell into a fitful sleep, my heart heavy with the shadows of my past. Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[m-jelly]

HI HI HI HI 👀 WANT TO SEE POSTWAR HUSBAND LEVI COMFORTING OUR READER AFTER NIGHTMARES WITH EREN (HER BROTHER. PLEASE I JUST WANT LEVI AND READER RO TALK ABOUT EREN AND HOW HE SACRIFICED) LOVE YOU

It hurts to remember

Post War Levi x fem!Reader

Canon world, post war, younger brother Eren, married, nightmares, talking about the war, grieving, comfort, love.

Levi comforts you and talks you through your nightmares and the loss of your young brother, Eren.

@ladycheesington @levisbrat25 @nyxiieluna @li-anne @galactict3a @youre-ackermine @thebobaprincess @2moth-anon2 @cypidity @nbinairyn @bts-spnlvr12 @notgoodforlife @demonic-bird

It took a moment for you to register where you were and what was going on. The room was just so dark and your heart was hurting. A soothing warmth was next to you, but the tears running down your cheeks. It hurt to think of your younger brother and it didn't help that your nightmares kept making you relive everything.

Eren was your younger brother and you used to think he was a sweet kid who always got into trouble, but Mikasa was there to save him once she became part of the family. You often had your head in a book, allowing you to connect with Eren's friend, Armin.

It was clear from a young age that Eren would cause problems because he had big ideas, but you thought it would be the military police telling you about Eren being a pain. You did not expect the life that unfolded before you. As you worked to get by and support your brother and sister, Eren decided he wanted to be a scout.

You encouraged your brother because you believed in him, but you hoped with all your heart he would live. The day Eren was chained up and the possibility of him being killed was the day you met the love of your life. Though your first encounter with your now husband was not romantic, it was an intense moment with heightened emotions.

You understood why Levi hurt your brother, it was to show he could be tamed and controlled and wasn't going to be a titan on the loose. It was hard to explain to Mikasa all this and it caused a fight that took time to resolve. Levi was sweet enough to let you visit Eren alone and care for him when needed. As you cared for Eren, Levi got to know you more and soon you both were stealing kisses behind walls and in Levi's office.

Everything was perfect for a while, with Eren helping out, Mikasa getting stronger and you having the sweetest wedding ever and becoming Mrs Ackerman. Then everything turned bad.

Sending your family off to war was one thing, but having only two return was heart-wrenching. You knew you'd be broken if Levi died, but you counted your blessings that he lived. Hearing Eren died at the hands of his sister was tragic.

Levi told you about Eren's actions and it tore you apart. Eren was no better than the people in Marley who wanted Paradis destroyed. Eren killed thousands of innocent lives. No matter how much you thought about it, you couldn't find reason in his actions. You were furious with him. You wanted to hit him so badly, but also hold him. Eren likely made the choice he thought was best. Eren probably felt like he had no other option. Eren put a stop to the Titans, but what had he started?

War was never going to stop. Humans were always going to fight over something. Though there was peace now, how long was it going to last? Eren acted to save people, but it was a temporary thing. No matter how much you thought about it, you don't think you'd ever truly understand the world around you. The titan curse needed to end, that was true, but was there another way?

Why didn't Eren ask for help? Why did Eren go alone in his path?

You hurriedly rubbed your tears away when Levi called your name in a deep and sleepy voice. "Levi."

He rolled onto his side and released a long sigh as he looked you over. He reached over and rubbed your belly. "What's going on?"

You rolled to face Levi and cuddled up to him. "Nightmares."

"About?"

"Eren."

He hummed and rubbed your back. "Right. Do you want to talk?"

You started telling Levi your thoughts about your dead little brother. Once you were finished the room went silent for a while. You spoke softly. "I know his acts led to you losing so many people you love, along with my half-brother. I cannot apologise enough to you for what you went through."

Levi cupped your face. "You are not to blame for their actions, okay? You didn't know at all what was going on."

You sniffed as the tears formed. "Why didn't he just talk to someone? Why didn't he just tell people what he saw? If he talked then maybe you all could have found a way. He didn't need to kill all those people. Right?"

"I don't think we'll ever know and no matter how much we try, we won't get an answer." He sighed. "Eren did what he thought was right. He acted to prove something to Ymir. I think this was all to do with love. Armin told me, from what Eren had said, that Ymir was in love with the king and the king made her do terrible things. Mikasa giving up her love for Eren for the good of us all was the act to prove to Ymir, that you can let love go."

You frowned. "But the king never loved Ymir. Making her do terrible things and she claimed that all this pain, all this suffering, all this hate and all this murder was an act of love? How did she not wake up and see? For hundreds of years, she suffered and he not once helped her or returned her love. She was alone in that weird void. All alone. Being abandoned and used is not love. All this could have ended if she just woke up and realised the truth."

Levi played with your hair. "I don't know, my darling, I don't. All I know is I could never give you up. You're my reason for living." He kissed you and smiled. "It's horrible to say, but no matter how hard you try I don't think you'll ever be able to understand his choice or Ymir, or everything else. You'll only hurt yourself if you do. Sometimes people do things without thinking, or they have thought a lot about it and their reasoning is different to our own."

"You're right."

He kissed you and smiled. "But if you ever want to talk it through, we can."

You smiled sweetly at Levi. "Thank you, but you are right. No matter how long I think about it, I won't understand him. I should focus on the life I have. The love I have and the happy memories I made and will make."

Levi rubbed your cheek sweetly. "Good girl."

"I love you, Levi Ackerman."

"I love you too. Forever and always."

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Did jc kill wwx with his own two hands? No. Is he responsible? Yes, heavily

Was him not personally exploiting the path into the burial mounds during the siege not enough then to mean Jiang Cheng had a hand in leading Wei Wuxian to his death? And does this also somehow not stand that Wen Ning, the man whose family was killed by that exploitation personally, sees Jiang Cheng as the one reason for his family was killed?

The word you use is "responsible", let's focus on that word. Since we have one person in plot who admits to the deaths he caused. Wei Wuxian admits to his part of the killings in war, he admits to himself, Wen Qing and Wen Ning being the cause of using Wen Ning to having killed Jin Zixuan with hefty amounts of regret (despite all circumstance leading to that), and to having justifiably killed the cultivators that set an attack on the Burial Mounds.

Yi Weichun, the middle aged cultivator who proclaimed to have had his leg cut off by him and had to wear a wooden prosthetic from then on, spoke up once more, “The debts of blood you owe to three thousand people will never be repaid, not even if you die over a million deaths!"

Wei Wuxian interrupted him, “Three thousand people? There were indeed three thousand cultivators present at Nightless City, but so too were the leaders, the sects and many of their best. With all of them present, could I have really killed all three thousand people? You are either thinking too highly of me, or are you looking down on them?”

He was only trying to reason fact, but the other cultivator felt as if he was being scorned, and became enraged.

"What do you think we’re talking about here? How could there be bargaining for debts of blood?”

“It’s not that I want to bargain over such a thing, but I would prefer my crimes to not to be exaggerated just because of the words of others. I won’t carry the burdens of what I didn’t do.”

Someone spoke, “What you didn’t do? What is there that you didn’t do?”

“Well, for example, I’m not the one who tore Chifeng-Zun apart. I’m not the one who forced Madam Jin to take her own life at Jinlintai. I’m also not the one who controls all of those corpses you ran into when you rushed up the mountain.”

The cultivators present are a blatant and literal metaphor for Jiang Cheng's own unreasonable grudges for how he blamed Wei Wuxian for all of the tragedies he was met with or, how he used Wei Wuxian as his scapegoat to justify his own lack of loyalty and trust to Wei Wuxian.

On the other hand, Jiang Cheng refused to give up, shouting, “Wei Wuxian, who was the one who broke his promise and betrayed the Jiang Sect first? Tell me. That I’d be the sect leader and you’d be my subordinate, that you’d help me your whole life, that so long as the Gusu Lan Clan had its Twin Jades, the Yunmeng Jiang Clan would have its Two Prides, that you’d never betray me or betray the Jiang Clan—who was the one that said that?! I’m asking you—who was the one that said all of that?! Did just you eat all your fucking words?!”

He got more agitated as he ranted on, “And in the end? You go and protect outsiders, haha! The Wen Sect’s people, even. How much of their rice did you eat?! Defecting with such resolution! What did you take our sect to be?! You did all the best things, yet every time you do the worst ones, it’s involuntary! Forced! With some unspeakable grievances! Grievances?! You told me nothing, you played me for a fool!!!

“Just how much do you owe the Jiang Clan!? Am I not supposed to hate you? Can I not hate you?! Why is it that now it’s like I’m supposed to have wronged you?! Why do I have to feel like I’m a fucking clown all these years?! What am I? Do I deserve to be blinded by all your dazzling splendor?! Am I not supposed to hate you?!”

Even blatant foreshadowing and callbacks, are sadly ignored to say, yes, Jiang Cheng is right to hate and still use his excuses to hate Wei Wuxian no matter the real reasons. Ironic, isn't it?

[tinyinvadr]

Next chapter’s here!

Psychoborrower

Chapter 15

“What do you say? Shall we turn up the heat?”

“Oh, you know how I love a good barbecue, Augustus!”

The evil version of Raz’s dad lit Butch’s cleavers on fire, then positioned himself behind him to juggle his flaming pins. Just as I thought, they were playing dirty.

All we could do was dodge the attacks. We couldn’t get anywhere near Butch to land a hit on him.

“What do we do??” Oly asked, starting to panic.

Maintaining my focus, I watched as the juggling pins rained down on us. There was something familiar about this, like a battle I already fought. Then, realization hit me. And a flaming pin, but that’s besides the point.

This was just like when Raz and I fought the Nightmares in Boyd’s mind. If we wanted to beat them, we had to give them a taste of their own medicine.

It looked like our best bet at taking down Butch was to hit him in the knees, so I aimed and threw a pin at him, forcing him to kneel. Just as Raz was about to jump up and punch him, Oly beat him to it.

Yep, now that was more like the Coach that I knew. Good thing he was on our side.

“That’s for killing the bunnies!”

Punch.

“And that’s for trying to kill my friends!”

Punch.

“And THAT’S for trying to kill me!”

At the third punch, Butch toppled over, falling into the meat grinder. But as he fell, he grabbed Oly, intending to take his own son down with him.

Raz and I both grabbed him with our TK, forcing him out of his father’s grasp and saving him at the last second.

Once he got over the shock of almost being turned into ground meat, he turned to us and smiled.

“I… I did it! I stood up to my Dad!”

The evil mental Augustus scowled, still juggling his flaming pins like his life depended on it.

“Murderers! You killed him just like those no-good psychics killed my father! You should be ashamed of yourself, Raz-”

“Razputin!”

Not a moment too soon, his real dad arrived. Finally, we could all be free from this terrible place.

Raz was… surprised, to say the least. He did tell me he suspected his father was also psychic, but I don’t think he expected to actually see him use his powers. And he also didn’t expect to learn that his dad was the one who sent me into his mind.

“Son… I’m sorry. I only ever wanted to protect you. Our family has powerful enemies, and I thought that keeping you from using your powers was the only way to keep you safe. But I never should have done that. Not when it came at the expense of your happiness. Besides, now I see that it’s better for you to learn to defend yourself. You’ve grown so much in such a short time.”

“Don’t listen to him! I hate psychics!”

Augustus looked saddened by the sight of how monstrous he appeared in Raz’s mind, but he shook it off. Then, with a smirk, he PSI-Blasted his evil clone into the meat grinder.

“I’ve got a lot more hair than that!”

Wow… he’s cool.

With our enemies defeated and everyone together, the time had finally come to begin separating the minds. Though, that was all on Augustus. I’m not sure where he learned how to do this stuff, considering he had no affiliation with the Psychonauts, but I’m guessing he did research on his own time. Impressive.

“Hehe… why is your dad kinda-”

“Ew! Shut up, Flint.”

Suddenly, the grinder started whirring again, meat spurting out of it as the mushed together bodies of Butch and Evil Augustus dragged themselves out. If we only knew that the grinder would just make them bigger and scarier, we never would’ve pushed them in.

Since Augustus already began the process of untangling the minds, the mental world itself was starting to collapse. The circus tent tore itself apart at the seams, leaving us in a wasteland that was once a place of meat-themed fun for the whole family.

Before I could fully process what was happening, the mismatched limbs of the Dad Monster snatched up me and Oly.

“If we’re going down, we’re taking you down with us!”

We both struggled and squirmed, attempting to PSI-Blast the monster to no avail. Somehow, blending them made them stronger.

It looked like it was the end of the line for us, but I glanced over at Augustus. He did some sort of psychic transfer with Raz, giving him a boost of energy that manifested in a giant aura projection. He was big enough to hit the monster where it really hurt.

He punched both their faces, making them drop us. I got the wind knocked out of me, but I recovered quickly and helped Oly up. We ran to join Augustus as we watched Raz absolutely demolish the Dad Monster, and soon enough, the untangling was finished.

A huge dark vortex opened up beneath the monster, sucking them in and destroying them forever. Then, everything else started to get pulled in with them.

Raz’s aura projection timed out, and he quickly levitated over to catch up to us. Then, together, we ran from the Meat Circus as it collapsed into the void, never to be seen again.

There was a blinding light, and before I knew it, we were back outside the caravan. I had been briefly knocked out, and reverted to borrower-size during that time.

The first thing I noticed was Oly, who was happily standing in the meadow while holding his bunny. I winced at the sight of it, but I remained calm.

Beside me sat Augustus and Raz, who was still recovering from what happened.

“No… No more meat!”

His father pulled him in for a hug, quietly reassuring him that the nightmare was over. I smiled, relieved to see that Raz had a support system in his dad after all. He was going to be okay.

Oly waved goodbye as the meadow drifted away, the two final remnants of the conjoined minds separating. That left the three of us and the caravan.

Once Raz calmed down, we all left his mind. By that point, the counselors and Lili had woken up, and they re-brained Raz and Oleander right away.

Of course, the plan for Coach immediately after returning his brain was to fire him and turn him over to the authorities, but I vouched for him to have a second chance. Sure, what he did was horrible, but after seeing what state his mind was truly in, I could understand why he would be driven to act so extreme.

He had no one to help him work through his childhood trauma, so he pushed those feelings down and let himself become obsessed with trying to prove his own strength, when deep down, he was hurting the whole time. He couldn’t even get help from the Psychonauts because he hid the truth from them.

He was like me, in a way.

I tried to close myself off. To act like my past didn’t bother me, and pushed myself to become a Psychonaut as if it was the only thing that mattered. I think the reason I didn’t lose myself completely is because the staff saw that I was putting up a front and went out of their way to help me in subtle ways. Unfortunately, they didn’t recognize that Oleander was going through the same thing.

It was well after midnight when we all returned to camp. Ford set up a place for Augustus to sleep in the main lodge, then he and Oleander went to their respective quarters for the night.

Raz invited me to join him in the boys’ cabin, but I turned him down. I’d had more than enough human interaction for the day, and I knew the other boys would want to stay up all night and bombard me with questions. I just wanted to sleep.

So, I went back with Sasha, who was well aware that I was staying in the walls of his lab. He knew exactly where my room was, but never went anywhere near it out of respect for my privacy and sense of safety. It’s something I really appreciate in hindsight.

“Man… I can’t believe I didn’t realize you knew all along. Guess that explains why you always leave full plates of food sitting out. You… do know I don’t eat that much, right?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I know. But it would have been too obvious if I only left out tiny portions.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

There was a moment of silence as he set me down on his workbench, right near the hole that served as my entrance into the wall. I didn’t go in, though. I stood there, looking up at Sasha.

“Is something wrong, Flint?”

“I just… I know I should probably go home after all this. My parents must be worried sick. I mean, I’ve been gone for three years, they probably think I’m dead. They… They deserve to know what I did.”

Sasha nodded, his expression stoic and unchanging as it almost always was.

“But you’re worried they won’t let you come back here after you go home.”

“Yeah… What I did was wrong, I know that now. But at the same time… going back could mean giving up everyone and everything I’ve come to care about here. And… I don’t know if I can do that. I’m happy that things worked out between Raz and his dad, but that doesn’t guarantee the same for me. If I go back, I might end up having to sacrifice who I really am just to please them. I just… I don’t know what to do.”

He thought it over for a minute, then spoke again.

“Flint… Whatever you decide to do, you have my full support. This is a difficult decision to make, and I don’t want to influence your choice. Though, I do have a suggestion. There is no set, single way to make amends for a previous mistake. Consider all of your options first. I can guarantee there’s something you haven’t thought of yet. But before anything else, you should get some sleep.”

I yawned, feeling my eyelids already getting heavy. Saying the events of that day were exhausting was an understatement.

Sasha pulled my matchbox bed out of the wall, setting it down next to me. Then, he gently lifted me up and placed me in it, tucking me in with the borrowed cloth I used for bedding. Before he could pull his hand away, I grabbed his index finger and hugged it.

“Thank you… for everything.”

I had already shut my eyes, but I could tell from his voice that he was smiling.

“Get some rest, Flint. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

[nightfall-1409]

Hiya. You've probably seen me often in the comments for (Re)convene on AO3. Well, I love that story so much that I had to take this opportunity to continue our dialogue in a more appropriate location/setting. Anyway, the reason I reached out, mainly, is that I have a few questions, if you're willing to answer them. Just out of curiosity, what made you decide to make Myles a Wren? And, if it's not considered spoilers, could you explain the overall history of Clan Wren in this universe? Thanks.

Hi!!! I do hahaha

This is a totally fine place to reach out :) (I'm working on the next chapter, but, well, I get distracted easily hahaha) I'm also working on a one shot I'm planning for mother's day from Sabine's POV called "So I as my mother before me"

So I actually was thinking about this ! Perhaps a little bit roundabout until we get back to our answer.

The way that the last Clan Wars is described in both RepComm and the Disney Rebels is as an emotionally devastating wound, that tore family from family, friend from friend, sibling from sibling, parent from child. Most Mandalorians we've met have two names, a name they were given, and a family name. In a lot of fan content, those who have been separated from their family take on a new last name, Naa'sade, but that's not anywhere I've read officially. But we have met a few Mandos with no last name. Given the fact that the schism in Legends happened first between the True Mandalorians and Death Watch (where Tor defected from what Jaster was doing), it stands to reason that what happened between Clans started then.

So, IMO, the Mandos without last names are likely those who've cut ties with their family. Symbolically, spurning their family name and setting out on their own. But they're not of no clan, because clan structure is more than family structure. They're still of the clan they were apart of before, they're just contending which branch of that clan will survive, or else joining a new clan (IE, Silas' loyalty in the comic, to Jango would likely mean he's joining Jango's clan/house)

We've got three Mandos without last names to work with then. Silas (who I already had plans for + we've already gotten a canon face for), Montross (who's well, very dead by now), and of course, Myles.

This brings me back to how I plan stuff. I knew early on that I was planning on having Ursa as we see in the fic betray Sabine's trust (and this time, really break it, because while Ursa hadn't had the full picture of what Sabine has gone through, Sabine's been burnt by her mother before. And this time is far worse. Because she thought she would be able to influence Ursa's choices if she told her mother the truth.)

So I did more than a little character analysis of Ursa. She's a protective mother bear, but she at this point is dead loyal to Death Watch, as she would later be loyal. Her willingness to betray her child's friends and teammates to get her child to safety, her frank conversation with Sabine where Ursa tells her that the entire reason why Ursa never reached out to her was because Sabine was safer away from them... that implies a level of control, a level of knowledge of how these things work, a level of trust in Death Watch's leadership structure, that if she reached out she would get what she wanted. Because Sabine had never once betrayed her name, never declared her parents dar'buir. So making sure Sabine gets home safe was important to her, a) and b) thought that working through Death Watch's House channels would work. Given the fact that the clan wars split up house from house, clan from clan as I mentioned...

And then there's the fact she ended up marrying a New Mando... I'm given to believe that there was some disillusionment with Death Watch from before, but not enough to betray it completely. So I'm inclined to believe that something happened to her during the clan wars, but it's a matter of asking, well, what?

In Short then, there's ample room for a tragic backstory for Ursa wherein she, as her daughter, was raised in the midst of a civil war. Where she, as her daughter, lost a sibling to that war, when her sibling refuted their family, and left, and became nameless. She snaps at Ezra when he says that they're all True Mandalorians, to tell him not to speak on what he doesn't know, meaning, IMO, this sibling could have gone to that side of the battle.

Ursa, Sabine, Tristen, all have latin ties wrt their names, and so does Myles.

So I came at it like that. I wanted to have a sort of pattern, within the Wrens, with Sabine, and Ursa. And further, more than that.... it's useful for other story purposes, as a plot device if Sabine's got a lot in common with someone in PARTICULAR Jango Failed... Wellllll that is a rather juicy potential point of Pain. A good plot point that could come around, as well as being a good theme of the story, of being that of cycles and family dynamics coming around and around, and wanting to break out of it.

Hopefully that answers the question!

[scottpetersen]

DuckTales The Inter-Dimensional Swap Fanfic Chapter 2

Scrooge McDuck (2017) POV:

I wasted no time in trying to find a way home.

But that’s starting to look much harder than I thought.

I asked this world’s Gyro Gearloose if he can find a way to send me and my counterpart back to our home dimensions.

But after giving me a brief lecture about String Theory, he told me that according to his instruments, whatever sent me here is keeping my “quantum strings” fixed onto this world meaning nothing can reverse it besides what caused it in the first place.

Speaking of Gyro, I’m not getting anywhere near as much pompous mad scientist vibes from this world’s version of him as I did from the one back home.

In fact, everyone here is a bit different than the versions of them I know. There’s no version of Della in this world! The Donald here is usually away working at the navy. The Huey, Dewey and Louie have completely identical personalities and the only thing that helps me tell them apart is that they’re color-coded. The Beakley here doesn’t seem like the fighting sort. And neither does this world’s Webby.

And while I’m on the subject, I asked this world’s Beakley what things are like between the Webby here and my counterpart.

She told me about how this world’s version of my daughter likes to mimic me from time to time like how she copied my counterpart’s attitude on a phone call. It reminded me of how my Webby read my biography and perfectly mimicked the way I drink my tea.

This world’s Beakley also told me about how this world’s version of me makes sure to correct himself when it seems like his more negative quirks are starting to rub off on this world’s Webby.

So, I guess this world’s version of my daughter has at least a small bit in common with my world’s version of her and our counterparts in this world do have at least somewhat of a father/daughter relationship.

I also decided to teach this world’s Webby a thing or 2 about horse back riding. She didn’t seem to be the fighting or athletic sort. So, I figured teaching her how to ride a horse would be the next best thing.

I did actually enjoy it all a bit and this Webby does indeed remind me of my Webby.

But it just did not feel the same.

This Webby asked me why I called her my daughter earlier.

I then told her everything about our relationship back home and my world’s Webby turning out to be a clone made from my DNA which technically made her my biological daughter.

“Wait. If Ms. Beakley is the other me’s grandma and you’re the other me’s dad, wouldn’t that make my grandma your mom?” this world’s Webby asked me while I was explaining.

I almost fell out of my chair at that thought.

“Um…well…I never exactly thought of it like that. But…” I started to say but stopped myself not sure what to think of that idea. “How about we just move on with what I was saying?”

“Ok.” this world’s Webby replied.

After I finished explaining the story to her, she all too enthusiastically asked if that could be the case here too.

I wasn’t sure about that. And I also didn’t want to keep the truth from her since keeping what happened to my niece a secret from my family almost tore us apart and Beakley keeping where she found her a secret from Webby almost broke her heart.

So, I asked this world’s Gyro to do a DNA test to see if me and Webby’s counterparts could be related here too.

And the test indicated that they actually aren’t.

When I saw this Webby deeply saddened by the news, I went over and gave her a hug.

The whole ordeal made me feel all kinds of horrible and uncomfortable in more ways than one. But I was still able to give this Webby a sympathetic speech about how even if she and my counterpart aren’t genetically related, they’re still family and they can still be father and daughter.

That did make this Webby feel a bit better. But I still saw tears in her eyes.

For once in my life, I actually fled from the situation.

I took a dip in my counterpart’s money bin to calm myself down.

But even my money bin didn’t feel the same as back home.

Ugh. All the more reason to find a way home and see my world’s version of my family again!

Then, something else just crossed my mind.

There is one thing that would be powerful enough to put me and my counterpart in this situation: the Papyrus Of Binding.

I went and did some research to see if there is a version of it in this world.

But if there seems to be very little record of it in this dimension. There isn’t even any record of its location. That might explain why my other self never seemed to search for it.

Another thing is that if it was used to send us to each other’s dimensions, that means that someone is behind this!

And that someone could be getting ready to attack me and my counterpart any moment now.

With that in mind, I realized that I may need some help to get the Papyrus Of Binding away from them.

I asked this world’s Duckworth about everyone my counterpart has met and one name stood out to me!

According to Duckworth, she doesn’t reside in Duckburg.

So, I asked this world’s Launchpad for a flight.

I made sure the reporters know that I’m going away to make sure whoever caused this doesn’t attack where most of my family’s counterparts are.

This world’s Launchpad and I crashed-landed in Klondike.

“Wait here. I’ll be back soon.” I told this world’s Launchpad.

“You got it, Mr. McD.” this world’s Launchpad replied.

With that, I started heading towards town and soon caught sight of the household I was looking for.

I sure hope this world’s version of her will help me.

-

Scrooge McDuck (1987) POV:

This world’s versions of the people I know are very different than the ones I’m familiar with.

The boys here are actually very different from each other unlike the ones back home. The Dewey here is reckless and silly. The Huey is very book-smart and heavily relies on the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook that all 3 of the boys back at my home relied on so much.

The Duckworth here apparently died and is now helping around the mansion as a ghost as I found out the hard way when he accidentally startled me.

The Ms. Beakley here is much more firm and strict than the one back home. And she’s also a very competent fighter. And apparently, she was also an agent of a spy organization called SHUSH.

The fact that this world’s Webby is actually my daughter caught me off-guard even more. I do love my world’s Webby and I do try to be a good example for her when it comes to how to interact with people. But I never actually thought of her as my daughter.

Speaking of this world’s Webby, while I was researching and studying all the artifacts and trinkets my other self had obtained over the decades, this world’s Webby called her friends for help on her “cellphone”. My family’s other selves told me that cellphones work just like telephones except they work wirelessly and can give you access to a vast array of information.

Anyway, 2 young girls soon arrived.

“Soooo…you’re the other Scrooge Webby talked to us about?” the duck in the black and gray stripe shirt asked.

“Yes I am.” I replied. “…And who are you 2?”

“I’m guessing there’s no versions of us back at your dimension either.” the hummingbird in the green shirt said.

Seems like this world’s Webby told them about there being no version of my other self’s niece back home.

“Apparently not.” I replied.

“Ok. Here’s the rundown…” the duck in the black and gray stripe shirt began.

The duck in the black and gray stripe shirt introduced herself as Lena and the hummingbird in the green shirt introduced herself as Violet.

And after they finished explaining just who they are, I was completely shocked by what I heard. Especially by Lena’s story.

I can’t believe that this world’s Magica De Spell had a niece. And that she used her as a way to get to me! I also can’t believe Magica made Lena suffer the way she did all because she wanted revenge on me!

And it was my fault for not helping Magica’s brother.

“Lena, I am so so sorr-” I was starting to say.

But Lena stopped me.

“Don’t. The other you already beat you to the punch after that trial he had with Louie.” Lena said. “Besides, he was getting ready to try to find my uncle wherever he was and turn him back to normal before I stopped him. I mean him and my aunt were already evil tyrants to begin with who turned people into mindless animals. So, they got what was coming to them.”

I nodded understanding her logic.

As for this Violet girl, she says she’s a magic enthusiast who has become dedicated to researching and learning everything she can about the supernatural. So, I believe that’s at least one of the reasons this world’s Webby invited her here. This also means she might actually be able to help me and my other self.

“With all that out of the way, I think we should get started.” Violet said with Webby and Lena nodding in agreement. “First, we have to pinpoint exactly what caused this inter-dimensional swap between you and your counterpart in order to better make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Good idea.” Lena replied.

This world’s Webby nodded clearly agreeing as well.

They used a ritual on me with a crystal, a mirror, grains of sand and an arrowhead as the ingredients.

The ritual sent waves of magic into my body. It felt very strange. It was like every bit of my body was starting overflow with adrenaline.

Once it was done, a sphere of magic emerged from my chest and was beginning to move through the hallway.

“We have to follow it!” Violet said.

We followed the sphere until it eventually lead us to a hall which looks to be full of hundreds of chambers.

This world’s Webby previously told me this is the Other Bin and that it’s where my other self keeps all the magic artifacts he obtained over the decades.

And judging by the number of magic artifacts I was told were stored here, I’m betting my other self must’ve been named the explorer of all time.

The magic sphere lead us to one of the chambers.

When we entered, we noticed the magic sphere stop at a pile of ripped apart pieces of paper that looked magical.

“The Papyrus Of Binding caused this to happen?!” this world’s Webby exclaimed in disbelief.

“I’m guessing this is the thing you mentioned earlier that lead to the discovery that you were my other self’s biological daughter.” I said.

“Yes. It’s a magic paper that can make anything that is written on it come true. But it can’t be. It’s destroyed.” this world’s Webby said before pointing at the Papyrus. “Plus, it’s been stored here ever since FOWL was defeated.”

“Wait. Look at the way the sphere is reacting.” Violet said pointing at it.

We looked and we saw the sphere glowing bright yellow and it’s also fluctuating in a strange manner.

“I think that means that it was the Papyrus Of Binding from your world.” Violet said before looking at me. “That’s what caused our Scrooge to be switched with this one. And because of the Papyrus’ sheer power, it was probably able to bypass the dimensions’ different rules hence why this Scrooge’s head and eyes stayed the same even after making the trip here.”

“Ok. So, is there a way to get him and our Scrooge back home?” Lena asked.

“I’m afraid we’re gonna have to restore the Papyrus Of Binding from this world and use its power to cancel out its counterpart’s effect.” Violet said. “We might be to restore the Papyrus briefly but it will take time and an insane amount of magic power.”

“Looks like this is gonna take longer than we thought.” this world’s Webby said before turning to me. “You might need something to do in the meantime.”

“I’m afraid so.” someone said from behind us.

We all turned to see that it’s this world’s Ms. Beakley.

“Apparently, there’s a social gathering our Scrooge is supposed to attend very soon.” this world’s Ms. Beakley continued.

“Can you reschedule it, Grandma?” this world’s Webby asked.

“I’m afraid not. It’s happening in 2 hours.” this world’s Ms. Beakley said.

“So, I have to attend in my other self’s place.” I said knowing where this is going.

This world’s Ms. Beakley nodded.

“I’m sure I can handle it.” I assured this world’s Webby. “I’ve attended social gatherings before. This shouldn’t be hard.”

“Ok, other-dimension Scrooge.” this world’s Webby replied.

“But just to be sure, I’ll be accompanying you.” this world’s Ms. Beakley stated.

“Alright, Ms. Beakley.” I said in response.

2 Hours Later…

This world’s Ms. Beakley and I are at the social gathering.

This world’s Lena conjured a magic disguise for me that makes me look exactly like my other self. It also changed my voice to sound like his too. So, I won’t cause any suspicion from my other self’s enemies like Glomgold for example.

“Be sure not to wander off. Whoever caused this to happen in the first place could be planning an attack at any moment.” this world’s Ms. Beakley whispered.

“Ok, Ms. Beakley.” I said.

As I greeted the guests at the gathering, one walked up to me. An owl woman in a suit.

“Hello, Mr. McDuck.” she said.

This must be Zan Owlson, the mayor of St. Canard that this world’s Ms. Beakley told me about. I’ve never seen any version of her back home.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I replied briefly forgetting that her and this world’s version of me have met before.

I quickly realized my mistake and this world’s Ms. Beakley stepped on my foot glaring at me!

Zan Owlson raised an eyebrow at me.

She turned to this world’s Ms. Beakley and asked her, “Does your boss have some kind of amnesia?”

“No. He tends to have a hard time remembering his former employees.” this world’s Ms. Beakley lied with a calm demeanor.

Zan Owlson still looked a wee bit skeptical before shrugging it off and saying, “Well, be that as it may, I want to talk to Mr. McDuck about the charity drives in St. Canard.”

“Oh, yes…the charity drive.” I said very reluctant to spend what could be a lot of money.

“I know that you don’t like spending money, Mr. McDuck.” Zan Owlson said. “But I also know about your self-reliance philosophy. I’ll get straight to the point. The people this charity is for can rely on themselves and their own skills to get by in life. But only if they’re given the opportunity to do so. And do you really want all that self-reliance and hard work to go to waste before it even begins?”

I can see her point and it does, in a way, remind me of Mad Dog McGurk, a friend who was wrongly sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit thanks to Flintheart Glomgold and was thus separated from his mother. We met when I myself was framed for stealing a painting by Glomgold. He was robbed of his opportunity to get by in life until I gave it back to him by pardoning him. So, I think I can do the same for those poor souls Zan Owlson is talking about. And since my other self also does believe in self-reliance, I’m sure that he would agree with Zan Owlson if he were in my position right now. So, this shouldn’t cause any suspicion.

So, I responded with, “Very well. I’ll be sure to invest the money those people need into the charity drive. But only what they need.”

“Ok. I’ll be sure to inform those people of the news.” Zan Owlson said beginning to walk away before stopping. “And just to be sure you go through with it, remember that this would look good for your public record.”

With that, Zan Owlson walked away.

Sighing in relief, I said, “That was close.”

“I think it’s best that you let me take the lead at the start of the conversation next time.” this world’s Ms. Beakley said.

“Agreed.” I replied.

As the social gathering continued, I kept on greeting the other guests until I caught sight of a woman at the top of a staircase.

The woman I’m seeing is a duck wearing a yellow dress and gold earrings. And she seems to have yellow (almost gold) looking hair.

She also seems to look incredibly familiar.

So, after making sure I was out of dodge of this world’s Ms. Beakley, I started making my way towards the mysterious woman.

-

Scrooge McDuck (2017) POV:

I was making my way to the household I was looking for and saw a shadowy silhouette of a woman with a shotgun.

“Who’s there?!” she shouted.

“It’s me. Scrooge.” I said.

“Scrooge?” she asked.

“Although not the one you know.” I said.

“You’re gonna have to be more clear if you’re gonna be making sense.” she said as she made her way out of the shadows.

If I’m gonna make it back home, I’m gonna need help from this world’s version of Goldie O’Gilt.

“Well, let me explain from the beginning…” I said starting to tell her about the situation me and my counterpart are in.

-

Scrooge McDuck (1987) POV:

I had to make it through an entire crowd of other guests in order to make my way up the staircase.

But when I made it up there, that woman was gone.

I was starting to think I wasn’t going to find her when someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around to see who it is.

It’s that woman!

“Hello, Scroogey.” that woman said slyly.

All of a sudden, I realized who this woman is!

It’s this world’s Goldie O’Gilt!

Notes: Ok. I think I’ll be posting chapters of this fanfic on a weekly basis. The next chapter will come out next week and it will be in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Carl Barks’s story Back To The Klondike and the first appearance of Goldie O’Gilt. Credit belongs to @goldiejake11 for making that fact known to me in her HAPPY (ALMOST) 70TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE KLONDIKE QUEEN HERSELF - GLITTERING GOLDIE O’GILT post and also to @pick-and-shovel-laborer since I probably could never have found that post if they hadn’t reblogged it. Also, Happy 70th Anniversary to the first appearance of Goldie O’Gilt.

[draconicocelot]

Broken Past, Treacherous Future

Summary: Carlos is in the process of starting a new life, but a quick stop in his old hometown leads to a rather unfortunate run-in with old enemies. 

Note: I do not speak Portuguese, the only terms used here have been from external sources and may or may not be exactly correct but I did my best to make it accurate

“Sure you don’t want to come in?” 

“Nah, I’d like to enjoy the last of today’s sun. Grab me a lemonade while you’re in there, please?” Penny nodded in response, ducking into the store as the top of the door hit a tiny bell, notifying the owner of her entry. Carlos stayed outside, sitting on the bench near the small shopping mall they stopped at. The sunset was beautiful, granted, it always was to him. He was relieved to return to Brazil after so many years away, however, it also brought back the sour memories associated with his past. When his family was taken away from him, the robberies and the stealing, the violence he so desperately wished to avoid. 

“Ei, você aí,” Carlos turned his attention to the voice coming from his right, noticing that the man who called to him was followed by two others. He felt himself tense up, but remained calm, leaning back slightly with a neutral expression. Something didn’t feel right, but he wouldn’t act just yet. 

“Bem-vindos, can I help you?” The man in front stopped a few feet away from Carlos, his hands hidden from view as they were stuffed in the front pocket of his hoodie. One of the other members had the same build as Carlos, only slightly shorter, showing the scars on his arms and shoulders by wearing a white tank-top. The third member of their group seemed like he was more on edge than the others, his back hunched over as his eyes darted from side to side as if making sure no one else was around. 

“Just taking a stroll,” the leader deviously responded, leaning closer as he added, “what about you, Oliveira?” Carlos felt his chest tighten, eyes widening as he raised a brow. 

“Wh-What…?” Though as he let the voice settle in his head, hearing his last name spoken in a harsh, roughened tone, it suddenly hit him. Memories of tears, the light gleaming off the metal surface of a gun, the night he lost yet another brother. 

Tonio laid motionless on the ground, blood pooling around him as his second oldest brother turned and sprinted after the group of teens who had just shot him. Their mother was on her knees, cradling her son in her arms. Her screams for help haunted Carlos’ dreams for many years, as did the frozen look of terror on his brother's face as he was killed for Pedro’s reckless actions. 

Carlos stood still, yet quivered in place as he faced the wall. Closing his eyes so tight, he hoped he would open them in a more peaceful place, that this moment hadn’t truly happened. They told him not to move, so of course he couldn’t move. He just had to wait and no one else would get hurt. Violence had to be a last resort… they would honor their word not to harm anyone else… right?

“You… you,” Carlos hissed, launching himself to his feet as his knees shook slightly beneath him. It’s like he was five years old again, hands against the wall, a silent yet terrified comply. 

“Ah, so you remember us, hm?” The leader shrugged his shoulders, releasing his hands from his pocket to reveal a set of brass knuckles around one hand, the other wrapped in bandages. The taller man turned his neck to the side, loudly cracking both sides before rolling his shoulders. 

“It’s been sixteen years… sixteen years since you tore my family apart,” Carlos formed a fist so tightly his nails dug into his palm, gritting his teeth as he felt the rage build up and rise to his chest. “What the fuck are you doing here…?”

“I suppose we can ask you the same thing, since last time I checked, this was our territory,” the man out front snapped his fingers, tilting his head in Carlos’ direction as the muscle behind him stepped forward. 

He hated how violent he felt, he despised the urge to swing his fist, to take them all down to the ground like the infected citizens in Raccoon City. He wanted to crush them all beneath his boot, to make them feel the same pain he had when they killed his brother right in front of their family. 

Revenge. It’s what he wanted, what he desired with such ravenous hunger. He could kill them right then and there, and Tonio, his innocent brother… would still be gone. In that moment, the back of Carlos’ mind reminded him, revenge was how this all started. 

The only reason they fought back was because Pedro killed their friend. They allowed the rage to fully engulf them, to let the pain and the suffering dictate their reactions. They acted with violence, showing brutality in its ugliest form, a form that is only expressed when it is paired with the loss of a loved one. 

Taking a deep breath, Carlos spoke once more, his voice a mixture of restrained wrath with the facade of tranquil acceptance.  

“Look… I don’t want to fight,” he put his hands out in front of him as if motioning to calm down, “what happened in the past was… horrific… but I am done fighting. I understand that what my brother did to you and the rest of your group was unforgivable, and that you took the ‘eye for an eye’ approach to that whole fuckin’ mess… but if we keep goin’ at each others throats like this there won’t be any of us left, alright? Please, just… let it go,” he begged, observing their body language to see if they were willing to agree. 

The leader tilted his head slightly, considering it, his finger tapping his chin. The grin that followed shortly after was all Carlos needed to answer his plea for a peaceful resolution. 

“I knew you were the soft one, criança. Teach him a lesson.” As soon as the order was given, his bodyguard immediately lunged forward with a right hook, landing directly into Carlos’ gut. Carlos stumbled backwards, clutching his abdomen with one hand and trying not to be sick as he swallowed thickly. Before he had time to recover, he was being brought to the ground with a kick to the back of his knees, after which the leader stepped forward and struck him in the side of the head with his hand that wasn’t guarded by brass knuckles. 

Carlos’ ears were ringing as he felt the sharp pain radiate from one side of his head to the other. While the bodyguard positioned one boot on top of Carlos’ chest, knocking the wind out of him with a defeated wheeze, he attempted to shove him away with a sturdy thrust from the heel of his hand. While he was almost successful, the leader approached from the side and grabbed the collar of Carlos’ shirt, pulling him up off the ground before dealing three harsh jabs to the face, leaving him with a bloody nose and a busted lip. The ground felt as though it was spinning, his vision blurred so badly he could hardly make out the features of the two men looming over him. His head was pounding and he still felt the nausea wash over him in waves. He supposed this was what he deserved, what he earned for turning his back on his combat training. As a soldier, he should have been ready to defend himself, to defend his family’s honor. He should have fought back, he should have thrown the first punch, but he just couldn't. 

“Hey! What the hell is going on here?!” It wasn’t until he heard the familiar higher pitched voice coming from behind him, where he couldn’t see, that he felt a rush of adrenaline course through his muscles. He writhed under the stronger man’s grip, but he only added more weight to his boot while his other leg kept Carlos from kicking. 

“Ahh,” the leader hummed in a pleased tone, snapping his fingers once more and pointing towards the nearest wall. The bodyguard wrapped his arms under Carlos’, forcing him to stand and face the direction of Penny’s voice. “Who do we have here?” Turning to Carlos, he shoved a thumb behind him, gesturing to her, “got yourself a namorada, eh?” 

Carlos couldn’t make out her expression, only able to see her silhouette in front of them with a ring of light around her coming from the storefront. He couldn’t imagine how frightened she was, knowing she would one day be exposed to the story of his past, but he hoped it wouldn’t happen so harshly. Despite attempting to break free from being held back, the leader gave him another strike to the gut, this time with the added metallic sting. Carlos choked on his own air, keeping himself upright but hunching over to keep from collapsing. 

“Do… Do whatever you want… to me. Leave her… leave her OUT of this,” Carlos managed to string the words together in more of a growl than speech, his partially blood soaked hair dangling over his eyes as he glared at them. 

“Look, I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but you need to let him go, now,” Carlos’ chest felt tight, partially from the attack, but also from the desperation in Penny’s voice. It was well hidden to those who weren’t aware of the way she spoke. However, he could tell her voice was different, he could sense the fear hidden behind the external wall of bravery she put forward. 

“Oh, do I?” he put a hand over his chest in a mocking posture of shock, then slinked closer to her, hands folded behind his back like a snake approaching its prey, “and just what is a little coelha like you going to do about it?” 

Penny didn’t take her eyes off of him, her expression neutral yet stern as she reached in her vest pocket, pulling out a small firearm and firing at his foot without hesitation. 

“Holy shit!” the third member, who remained behind the others without participating in the assault, shouted as he watched their leader fall, his knee up to his chin as he rolled on the ground, clutching his foot as blood pooled around his shoe. “She’s fuckin’ crazy!” 

Just as he called it out, he scrambled away from the scene without another question, all semblance of loyalty thrown to the curb. The muscle of the group, the one keeping Carlos held up, raised his eyebrows, unable to speak. Penny didn’t flinch as she lowered the gun, her eyes slowly shifting to the muscle while his “powerful leader” sobbed on the street. 

“So, would you like a turn?” He didn’t seem to ponder the question any further, seeing the lack of hesitation when shooting the other member of his group. Straightening his arms, he allowed Carlos to slip out of his grasp and collapse to the ground, holding himself up by one shaky arm. He then approached his wounded leader and scooped him up, following the trail of their final member who left just seconds earlier. 

“This, this isn’t over, imbecil!” he sputtered between tears. 

“It better be if you don’t want me to aim higher next time!” Penny snapped back, waiting for them to be completely out of sight before she ran over to Carlos’ side, holstering her concealed carry back in her vest. “Carlos, hey, are you alright?” Penny’s voice was much more tender this time, back to its sweetly pitch that was always so soothing to the ear. 

“I’m fine… I’m okay, Bow…” he tried to reassure her, backing against the wall so he could sit himself up. Penny placed her hand on his chin, gently tilting his head from one side to the other to observe the damage, and despite the fact that he didn’t want to involve her any further, he knew she wouldn’t back down. 

“Alright, tell me if this hurts,” she instructed, placing one hand over the other and pressing against his belly. Carlos sharply inhaled, recoiling at her touch as his hand instinctively covered his abdomen, the other remaining on the ground to hold himself up so he didn’t slide onto his back. 

“Yep… that hurts,” he muttered pathetically, a whimper behind his voice. Penny quickly jumped up to her feet and returned to where she dropped the few bags she had with her from the store, bringing them back to where Carlos was lying. “Machuca pra cacete…”

“I know… just hang in there, I’m gonna get you some help,” he perked up at that, lifting his head slightly to look at her, an amused yet exhausted smile on his face. 

“You understood that?” Penny huffed a bit of a laugh as she unpacked the bag containing Carlos’ lemonade and a few other cold items. One of which was a box of frozen treats, which she opened and took one of the individually wrapped popsicles out. 

“I’ve been learning a thing or two,” she responded, “now this might sting, but it’ll help numb the pain until we can get you to the hospital.” Penny held the packaged popsicle to his right eye, which was swollen and turning an ugly shade of brown and purple. Carlos flinched at first, but settled after he felt the pain slowly melt away. It seemed like an odd fix, but as soon as the throbbing became less noticeable, he thought it was genius. 

“Damn, you’re a fast learner, that’s amazing,” Penny handed him the lemonade after unscrewing the bottle’s cap, then opened one for herself. 

“You’re very sweet,” she responded, taking a sip before looking back at him, a look of sadness in her eyes. “Carlos… what happened back there?” Carlos’ expression of brief joy also fell, tracing the words on the label of the bottle anxiously. The last thing he wanted that day was for her to find out who he used to be, the lows he had to reach to support his family. 

“Let’s just say, the past caught up with me,” he knew it wasn’t going to be enough for her. It wasn’t as though she would force the truth out of him, but he felt she deserved better. They depended on each other, the least he could do was tell her who she was depending on. He paused for a moment, tapping the top of the bottle before setting it down. “I’m… I’m not proud of who I used to be, Bow.” 

Penny was sitting on her knees, her hand removing the cold compress from his eye and placing it back in the box. It wasn’t like they were going to break into them that night, it was meant to fill their hotel room with the other goods going with them on their journey to their new home a few hours away from there. They had been traveling for days, and while Carlos acknowledged the risks of returning to his hometown, he thought it would be for a short enough amount of time that he would be spared the pain of living through it again, now here he was, paying the price. 

So he explained everything, omitting the details of the night his brother was murdered right in front of him, but telling her about his temporary strand of petty crimes that grew to full-on robberies. He was clear to acknowledge that he hadn’t harmed anyone those days, but when his days as a trained guerilla fighter began, he couldn’t hold the same claim. He told her about the day he was caught, that he wasn’t even supposed to live through his final ambush. When the U.B.C.S forces recruited him for his skill, he had to agree, if only because he would have been punished for his previous records should he refuse. 

“Sure, I may look good as a soldier… but as soon as I take off the uniform, I’m just… a useless thief,” Penny used her hands to push herself forward so she was now sitting diagonally from him. She slowly raised her hand, cradling his cheek as he lifted his head once more, looking at her with defeat in his eyes.

“Carlos Oliveira, listen to me. You are not useless, and you are not a thief. You are a kindhearted soul who was dealt a shitty hand in life, but even then, you still managed to avoid as much violence as you could. You never wanted to hurt anyone, but when everyone hurts you first, it’s hard not to fight back,” Carlos stared into her russet brown eyes, completely enthralled by her words, unable to respond other than to bring his arms up to rest over her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. “You know who I saw when we first met? Someone who was dedicated to the care and protection of others. I didn’t see a criminal, I didn’t see someone who should be feared, I didn’t see the person you see when you look in the mirror. I see someone who has fought through hell to get his life back, and I think you should be proud of yourself for that,” Penny leaned in closer, guided by Carlos as he pulled them close enough for their foreheads to touch, holding each other there as Penny slinked her arms around Carlos’ torso, embracing him gently to prevent the pain from flaring up again.

“No one has ever stood up for me like you have…” he softly admitted. Penny’s smile was small, but genuine. 

“Well, no one ever saw me as someone worth saving before you. So… I suppose we were meant for each other, hm?” Carlos squeezed her tighter after that statement, moving his head to rest on her shoulder, his cheek nuzzled against hers. 

“Yeah, I suppose we are.”